Help selecting PE Discipline - ME: Thermal/Fluids or CE: WR/Enviro.

Hi everyone,

This is my first post though I've been ransacking these forums for over a year now. A little background: I graduated with a BS degree in mechanical engineering in 2011. I never took the FE in school, it wasn't really encouraged for MEs. After graduation I got involved with the drinking water industry, primarily treatment plants and distribution system designs. My employer has really started to stress the fact that I should get my PE so I'll be eligible to move up in the ranks. That meant first taking the FE, which I studied my butt off for and by some miracle passed in May 2017 after being out of school for 6 years.

My goal is to the PE exam in April 2018 but I am extremely undecided on which discipline to go for. I'm considering Mechanical: Thermal/Fluids or Civil: Water Resources & Environmental.

Mechanical Pros: 

• Looking at the NCEES specifications I'd say I feel fairly comfortable with about 50% of the material and at the very least recognize the other knowledge areas. Having just studied for the FE, topics like Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, and Thermodynamics are relatively fresh.
  

Mechanical Cons:

• Thermo/Fluids were HARD in school for me so I can imagine the PE Exam has the potential to be downright horrendous. For all I know I may have bombed these sections in the FE and just gotten by on math, statics, strengths, etc.
  
• I don't know anyone who has taken it in the past - no study materials available ($$$)
  

Civil Pros:

• More relative to my current work
  
• Most of my coworkers/friends have taken this route - and offered to let me have/borrow their study resources/references
  
• Easier (???) subject matters than Thermo/Fluids
  

CivilCons:

• 70% of the topics on the NCEES specifications are completely new to me - the only topics I recognize are structures, groundwater, water quality, hydraulics, and drinking water distribution and treatment. I've never had any courses/experience in hydrology, storm water, waste water, soils, construction management etc.
  

I guess it comes down to whether I should choose the devil I know vs. the devil I don't. Has anyone else ever been torn making a choice between the two and if so what did you decide? Any other MEs choose to take the Civil PE and if so what was it like teaching yourself all those non-ME topics from scratch? For those that took the ME Thermal/Fluids exam, how did the level of difficulty compare to the questions on the FE (for those that remember way back then..)?

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! Any advice much appreciated.

mckenz007 said:

That meant first taking the FE, which I studied my butt off for and by some miracle passed in May 2017 after being out of school for 6 years.

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Congrats on passing the FE. 

Mechanical vs. Civil? That's a tough one. Perhaps you can borrow some recent civil WRE study material from your coworkers. Flip through the material, take a practice exam. See if you can get some mechanical practice exams/material from the library or used online and take it. This will give you an idea on where you stand. 

If you do decide on the Civil WRE, i recommend taking a review class. 

My undergrad was Chemical Engg., no question in my mind that Civil WRE is much easier than Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, etc. Also, since you now work in the water industry, it would be make the most sense and be more applicable. If you are comfortable with hydraulics, water quality and treatment, groundwater, that covers most of the depth section (wastewater is easy to learn) and chunk of the breadth. The only areas that are tricky in Breadth are Geotech and Structural, which with sufficient review materials/review course should be manageable.

I agree with Matt, a review course would definitely be beneficial and worth it, especially EET for Civil WRE.

Are you in a state that distinguishes an ME from a CE license?  In your pros and cons, all I saw were concerns about which exam might be easier or harder.  Don't worry about that, you'll pass whichever one you decide on.  But, at the end of the day, what's better for your career - an ME or a CE license? 

The environmental part might end up biteing you in the butt if you have no background in it. The CE's that I know who took that exam was fine for the water resources/hydraulic part but struggled on the chem part of environmental 

@mckenz007, 

Have you made a decision yet?

Thanks for the input everyone! My state doesn't distinguish based on what test you take. After much soul searching, I'm 99% sure I'm going with the ME thermal/fluids... all the unknown civil topics were really making me nervous, and at least I recognized everything listed under ME... I'm in the process of getting approval to sit for the exam now through the state engineering board, references, transcripts, etc. My plan is to start gathering resources over the next couple weeks and then slowing start easing into a study routine, a couple hours a week for the rest of the year. Then come January 1st start hitting it hard 2-4 hours a day, everyday, plus more on weekends, similar to what worked for me on the FE. I'm *hoping* that studying for this exam will be a little bit easier than the FE since I won't be being pulled in so many different directions subject matter wise. But needless to say, I don't anticipate having any fun this winter 

Good luck. 

mckenz007,

I have a set of older ME PE Review books that you can have for free.  I think they might be the 11th edition...    I have the reference book, practice problems book, and the quick reference book. 

PM your address if interested.

Good Luck!

matt267 PE said:

Good luck. 

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Thanks I'll need it!

MikeGlass1969 said:

mckenz007,

I have a set of older ME PE Review books that you can have for free.  I think they might be the 11th edition...    I have the reference book, practice problems book, and the quick reference book. 

PM your address if interested.

Good Luck!

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Really?? That would be awesome!

Mckenz007,

I did try selling them here but no one was interested.  They are old but still very useful.  Now they are just taking up space...   Space that I need.

The 11th edition practice problems book has the same problems as the 13th in most if not all the chapters.  The 13th edition just added more problems to the chapters.

mckenz007 said:

I guess it comes down to whether I should choose the devil I know vs. the devil I don't. Has anyone else ever been torn making a choice between the two and if so what did you decide?

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I just stumbled across your post and figured I'd add my experience since I was faced with the exact same decision as you. I graduated with a BSME in 2010, took the FE for the heck of it and passed my senior year. Had I failed it, I likely would not have taken it again, as I had no desire to get a PE. Got a job as a mechanical engineer designing parts for airplanes, never thinking I would ever have to take another test again, since PEs are few and far between in the world of component design. I worked in the field for 6 years and decided I needed a change, so I switched over to the civil side working for a water/waste water utility.

The decision I guess was somewhat easy for me since water/environmental is really entwined with what I do now (designing water & waste water infrastructure - force mains, lift stations, etc), and I reasoned I really should take the PE in the discipline that I will be working. I was torn though because the Civil topics scared the crap outta me. In my college, after your Statics course, CEs and MEs go their separate ways, so things such as concrete and soils, I hadn't the first clue about. Since FL doesn't differentiate what kind of engineer you are, I could take the mechanical PE and, once licensed, still sign off on civil type plans (assuming I was involved with and had the knowledge of what went into those plans).

In the end I decided to take the Civil WR/Enviro exam. While the ME topics would be more familiar to me, I've been out of school for 7 years, and would pretty much have to restudy everything that I learned in college anyway, so I figured making the jump to the Civil exam, really wouldn't be as big a jump as I first envisioned. I've been studying since around January, and while I still don't feel confident on some of the topics, I sure know a lot more than I did in January!

I sit for the test in two weeks. Hopefully all goes well. Good luck with your journey!