Military Experience as Engineer Officer Count Towards Credit?

So I was reviewing the experience rules for Illinois and had the following question:

I currently have 1.75 years under a PE (Section 1380.230.a.5) and 1 year from credit for a Masters degree in Engineering (Section 1380.230.a.1).

I know this 2.75 years will count as experience under the referenced sections.

I also have an additional .75 years of engineering experience that was conducted and documented on the VE-PNG (IL Form) but that was not under a licensed PE. .5 of these years was because I was deployed and no one in my unit had a PE to certify my experience, my supervisor was a Civil Engineer Officer in the Air Force as was I.

The other .25 years was between when I graduated college and entered into the active duty military as a Civil Engineer Officer. The company was an environmental consulting firm and had me working under a manager with out a PE.

Will the .75 years of experiences conducted under a non-licensed engineer count towards the proffesional engineering

experience under Section 1380.230.a.6?

All of the work would qualify as experience under the definitions for IL?

Any one have some insight for IL specifically or other states?

Thanks!!

I know that I still need .5 years if all my experince will be counted but I am looking at options for a career transfer and plan on taking the PE Exam in Illinois prior to the transfer. If I pass I would apply to jobs that are looking for a PE within 6+ months.

Experience under a PE is a kind of a hard line requirement in IL. You can contact the board to see if the military experience will count but my guess would be not. You can take the test in IL before gaining the required experience now, then just apply for the license when the experience is complete...but that could cause problems in other states if you were to try to get licenses later down the road.

Every state is different, call the board and ask.

snickerd3 said:

Experience under a PE is a kind of a hard line requirement in IL. You can contact the board to see if the military experience will count but my guess would be not. You can take the test in IL before gaining the required experience now, then just apply for the license when the experience is complete...but that could cause problems in other states if you were to try to get licenses later down the road.

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Getting a license in other states is a concern since I am not set on staying in Illinois.

Sounds like I should wait get the last 1.25 years under a PE then take the test.

Thanks!

Hi ATM:

First of all, thanks for serving our country. Second, in IL, you don't need to be working under a PE to gain experience. You just need the engineering experience. I have worked for two large engineering companies (one in MI, and one in IL) along with my MS ME. And none of my supervisors had PEs. With that being said, that can only qualify you for a PE in IL. When you travel to other states, they might ask for work under a PE requirement.

In my honest opinion, it seems easier to get a PE in IL than in other states with the work under PE requirement. If I were in your position, I would take the exam as soon as possible, get the IL PE, and then get the other state(s) via comity. I too want to move, and I would need to get ALL my years under a PE.

I hope this helps.

ATM,

As mentioned before it really depends on the state board to decide if your military engineering experience counts so you need to contact them and ask. However, most likely it will count; a lot of boards help out and/or understand military service.

"Know where to find the information and how to use it - That's the secret of success." - Albert Einstein

www.learncivilengineering.com

In my military experience with the Navy's Civil Engineer Corps, there has *never* (as in not ONE) been a problem getting references for qualifying experience. In deployment and contingency environments, I am always willing to serve as a reference for anyone in my organization regardless of how "direct" the supervision was. How far up the chain-of-command (outside of the unit) would you have to go to get to the first PE?

i got mine in illinois, though i did happen to have all my experience under a PE so im not sure about that part, but i will say that it seems from asking around where i live now (live in KC so i have asked both MO and KS people) that they have to jump through a lot more hoops. To get my comity license i need 3 references from PEs and 2 more non PE character references. Let's just say i'm glad i got mine in IL rather than having to go through all this just to be able to take the test.

^ All the more reason to establish an NCEES Record.

Texas counted my experience as an active duty AF officer. That included 4 years in RED HORSE. I was not working directly for a PE the whole time, but, in Texas at least, as long as a PE can verify your experience, it can count. That was the case with me. There was a PE who was not in my chain, but who knew what I was doing and was happy to verify my experience. Incidentally, Texas also counted time in "programming" positions as a 2Lt, because I was doing preliminary design and estimating, as well as reviewing designs when they came back from the AE contractor.

The key was the PE who was willing to verify my experience.

R

IlPadrino said:

In my military experience with the Navy's Civil Engineer Corps, there has *never* (as in not ONE) been a problem getting references for qualifying experience. In deployment and contingency environments, I am always willing to serve as a reference for anyone in my organization regardless of how "direct" the supervision was. How far up the chain-of-command (outside of the unit) would you have to go to get to the first PE?

Click to expand...

I'm in the CEC as well and waiting on the October results. No issue finding people to sign off on my experience but I'm not sure if my descriptions of experience to date will be adequate in the eyes of the board. Any pointers for how to document NCF/FEC experience?

Feel free to send me a private message.

You've already applied to the board, yes? Most states will check your experience before letting you sit for the exam. Is that the case in your state?

FEC should be easy if you're anywhere near design or construction. NCF is even easier because you can describe your responsibilities as a Platoon Commander in a way that captures what the board is looking for. What do you do in the battalion?

The board in my state allows you to sit for the exam with 2yrs of experience (1 if you have a masters). For the exam they only require a signed statement that you meet these requirements. IOT actually actually get registered/licensed you have to have 4yrs (3 with masters) of documented/certified experience to be submitted after you pass the exam.

To be honest I wasn't worried about my experience until I did some reading on this forum. Sounds like general consensus is that the boards are looking for design experience in which case I would have to be pretty creative with my job descriptions. Considering CM is its own discipline, I wouldn't think the lack of design experience would be a deal breaker but I just want to make sure I'm not going through multiple iterations of documenting my experience in order to satisfy my state board.

Send me a PM if you'd like me to take a look at how you documented your experience.