Structural Engineer
Kelly Streeter
30, Guilford, CT

Job Description: Climber/consultant for Ithaca-based Vertical Access, a 13-year-old company whose seven employees use rock-climbing skills and roped rigging systems to scale and inspect architectural structures across the nation—from historic statehouse domes and churches to buttresses and bridges.
Why This Work Rules: It's hard to beat playing Spider-Man in New York City, rappelling down the stainless-steel spire of the Chrysler Building, carrying a water hose to test for leaks, or tiptoeing around the towers of St. Patrick's Cathedral to check their condition. To carry out surveys, Streeter and fellow technicians—among them a historic preservationist and a masonry expert—construct a fail-safe system of ropes that allow them to clip in, climb up, and get close to beautiful landmarks. Working hands-free, they investigate and meticulously map a building's condition, entering data into a handheld computer while hovering hundreds of feet above the ground. "We get to see these amazing parts of buildings that no one else sees up close," Streeter says.
Turning Point: Streeter taught rock climbing while she was working toward her bachelor's degree at Cornell University, first meeting Vertical Access employees at the school's climbing wall, where the company holds training sessions. After she graduated, she took a job at an engineering firm designing buildings—and did freelance work with Vertical Access "every chance I got," she says. Finally, at age 26, she realized her true love was for old structures—not new ones. She got a master's degree in structural engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder, joined Vertical Access, and hasn't looked back.
The Balanced Life: Streeter works long hours, but she gets to file paperwork from home and enjoys downtime between jobs—an important perk, since she has an 18-month-old daughter and another child on the way. She feeds her passion for old buildings by volunteering on a local historic-preservation board. To get away from it all, she and her husband, a software programmer and recreational pilot, fly in their four-seat Piper Cherokee to eastern-seaboard hideaways and camp out.
Reality Check: "The work can be intensive and tough," Streeter says. On one job, she dangled beneath the 90-foot-high arches of New York City's Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine for more than three hours while installing crack gauges with a hammer drill.
The Bottom Line: Structural engineers typically make $45,000 to $75,000 a year. For more info on Streeter's work, check out www.vertical-access.com or the Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians (www.sprat.org). The National Society of Professional Engineers (www.nspe.org) provides a broader overview of engineering jobs and more.