I am just a few weeks away from my trip to New York City and I could not be more excited about this new chapter in my career.
Hi everyone,
My name is Andrés and I am a civil engineer from Madrid (Spain). Since I was a kid I knew I wanted to dedicate my life to high-rise design and construction. However, I had a hard time deciding between engineering and architecture. I chose the former and fell in love right away. I studied both my bachelor’s and master’s at the Technical University of Madrid (UPM, Escuela de Caminos, Canales y Puertos), but also hold the Master of Science in Civil and Architectural Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm (KTH, Sweden). I hope the harsh Baltic winters will help me get through this coming winter in New York.
After Stockholm I moved back to the city of dreams (my beloved Madrid), and started as a Structural Engineering Trainee at a British engineering and consulting firm. Once I defended my Master Thesis on the Dynamic Performance of a tall building to earthquake loading, I got promoted and joined the team permanently.
Why GMS?
As you may have noticed, tall buildings are my childhood obsession. I grew up watching how skyscrapers got higher with each passing of the year. I was taught the history and the battle for fame between Chicago and New York. I followed the boom in the Middle East and East Asia. All these reasons made me apply for a Traineeship at Gilsanz Murray Steficek in New York City. I enjoyed my Erasmus so much that I knew I had to repeat a similar experience and go the city where everything began.
Gilsanz Murary Steficek is a structural engineering and façade consulting firm headquartered in West 27th Street in Manhattan. They have brought back to life many of the buildings that shape New York, such as the Empire State Building or the Woolworth Building, among others. In short, I could not be in better hands.
How was getting the visa?
At first I was overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork that had to be filled in to get the visa, but with the help from Sonia, I was able to understand the steps and send everything on time. Soon enough it was time for the interview at the Embassy, which after 2 minutes, concluded the visa process.
What now?
Just how I began my first blog entry, I am a mere few weeks away from my trip to New York City and I could not be more excited about this new chapter in my career. I hope it will bring opportunities to learn and continue discovering the world of skyscrapers, to grow personally and professionally, and to get to know other parts of the US. I would love to come back from this experience with something unique and highly rewarded in the field of Structural Engineering. My first stop: the Skyscraper Museum in Lower Manhattan.
See you there,
Andrés
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