american professional societies

huangyhg

american professional societies
i have a question for the members here.  my company recently has enacted a program where they will pay for two professional memberships for all engineers, and a half of a third membership.
my question is, here in the us, what organizations do you feel give the most benifit for membership?
our firm deals almost exclusively in general building design, and i work mostly in steel, wood, masonry and light gauge.
thanks for you input.
asce has a tremendous package to offer in terms of knowledge based products.  there are journals to subscribe to and   
i would go with an aisc   
i agree with qshake.  from my own personal work environment asce is at the top of my list.  after asce, depending on which material you work most with, join an organization for concrete (aci), steel (aisc), or timber (aitc).
i have to throw in my two cents here - i found that an asce membership was mostly geared toward civil engineers, not structural.  i thought the   
pyklko,
while i don't disagree with your comment on the junk mail (there's plenty of that going around!).  i would like to point out a few things...in general, i am interested in keeping abreast of new technology as well as interesting articles on old technology.  to that end, asce has probably more than 50 journal dedicated to areas such as structural engineering, hydraulic engineering, composites, structural design in construction, transportation on and on...  moreover they have a very impressive collection of books that are pubished under the asce name including the minimum loading criteria which is an industry staple.  if the company pays for my   
structural engineer magazine is free, so is ce news, and modern steel construction.  these magazines pretty much cover anything you'll see in civil engineering.  and shouldn't your company pay for any asce publication you might need?  do you have to pay for aisc third ed lrfd yourself?  if you do, i would recommend finding a new company that actually wants you to keep up with your field.
all i'm saying is that if your company is paying for   
wow, what a brew-ha-ha.
first off, since i started this discussion let me throw this out there.  i am a member of asce, and would remain a member even if my company didn't pay for it.  i am on the board of directors of my local branch of asce, and am quite proud of the organization.  what asce does for me are often things that are not direclty benificial to me, but the best for my profession.  for instance in missouri a couple of years ago landscape architects wanted to gain licensure abilities that are the same as other architects.  asce fought this legislation through political influence.  they said, and i agree by the way, that a landscape architect should be able to attain some state licensing, this licence should be different from a building architects liscence.
these are the things i am a member, and support asce for.  they do a lot to help protect the profession.
now my original question remains; but let me restate it a little bit.
of the trade societies, aci, aisc, pci, etc; which, in the forum's collective experience, has the best bang for the free buck?  which orginization's member benifits make it an necessary part of being a professional?  which gives the best discounts, which has the best member's only magazines, which has the best   
here is a list of societies websites, that you might want visit.
engineering specialty certification
i am a member of aisc and aci, among others.  i have found these to be the two most useful trade organization   
rich 2001...pretty impressive list.. man that must have taken some time to type out.
as far as trade organizations, i would simply selectively join those that best match you focus of work.  you didn't mention concrete in your original post so perhaps you bypass aci and go on to aisc and others.