This paper sets out to provide a 'big-picture' guide to the major advances in structural engineering design that have taken place over the last five decades. rapid advances in computer technology during this period have spurred the development of structural calculations, ranging from the simple strength-of-materials approach in the 1950s, to the finite-element type of structural analysis for design in more recent years, and to the modern development of scientific simulation and visualisation for structural problems in the years to come. The paper concludes that the continually emerging nature of structural engineering and its associated codes of practice offers an exciting career, balancing idealisations of scientific theory with engineering reality and employing the latest computing technology.