PE Waiver

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WTF? It isn't a popularity contest. It's a system put into place to make sure that you have a basic understanding of engineering necessary to to be put in responsible charge of projects that may affect the well being of the public. In other words, I hope to god that you cannot get licensed if you "get enough signatures."

 
wow, I wish I had known about the Facebook PE test. I'll bet you get your results faster. Really though, what state ever offered that? Or were your co-workers pulling your leg?

 
Sounds like the "stop signs with white borders are optional" thing when you're learning to drive.

 
My grandpa told me that brown cows make chocolate milk, and white cows make white milk. Multi colored cows make both.

 
I think MA used to waive a college engineering degree requirement if you had something like 30 years of qualified experience, but I believe they still had to take the test..

What's Facebook?

 
I believe that several states still allow the expereince option in lieu of a 4-year degree but the experience is ~20 years+ and the applicant still needs to pass the tests. I am also told that the MA board can (and has) permitted an applicant to waive the PE test, but the applicant had a PhD in engineering and documented ~10-15 years of experience in a leadership capacity overseas. He also had a face to face interview/oral exam with the board in order to get the waiver. So it's possible, but "signatures" were not the requirement.

 
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I believe that several states still allow the expereince option in lieu of a 4-year degree but the experience is ~20 years+ and the applicant still needs to pass the tests. I am also told that the MA board can (and has) permitted an applicant to waive the PE test, but the applicant had a PhD in engineering and documented ~10-15 years of experience in a leadership capacity overseas. He also had a face to face interview/oral exam with the board in order to get the waiver. So it's possible, but "signatures" were not the requirement.
Experience + exam is 6 years in CA, 8 in WA, 12 in Oregon, 16 (I think) in Alaska, not sure about others.

I have my WA, I'm prepping to take CA-specific and Structural exams next year, and OR will finally grant me comity as a Civil in 2013.

 
It is not worth the time and effort to screw around trying to get a waiver of the exam! I had all the requisite requirements fulfilled, i.e., education-- PhD in engineering, experiene > 25 years, college Dean twice, responsible engineer in charge of major >$2B projects, leadership responsibilities, registered in a state that allowed (at the time) to become registered with a PhD and not taking the national examination.

I actually appeared before the board of the state that I currently reside, plead my case and the chair of the Board asked the staff member her opinion. She said, "Mr. Solomon has not taken the national examination." Well, that was a fact-- I had not taken the national examination. The chair pointed out that I would be allowed to take the national examination if I wanted to practice engineering in the state in which I currently reside.

I took the national examination, passed with flying colors-- at least that is what the lady at the board said, and away I went. After I did all of this, I wondered why I screwed around for 3 years trying to get out of it. Hell, it is only a bachelor's level examination and then the questions are at best 200/300 level questions.

I found this process so interesting that I volunteered to help write the questions for the next examination. I have been a member of the PAKS committee, have had to take the new test to see how it was. Interestingly, I was one of 10 PhD's that were working on this new examination. I missed 2 questions, one of which I had marked right and then changed.

BOTTOM LINE-- Don't screw around and find the easy way out. Take the damn test and be done with it. Then, there are no questions, no explanations and you are done. You spend more time screwing around trying to find the easy way out than taking the test, passing and moving forward.

 
There are some people I know that got grandfathered in somehow without taking the PE exam. Even though this does not (and cannot legally) happen anymore in my state, it makes me a little :madgo: to think about it. It also makes me want to put something on my resume to inform employers/clients that I have a real PE license.

 
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There are some people I know that got grandfathered in somehow without taking the PE exam. Even though this does not (and cannot legally) happen anymore in my state, it makes me a little :madgo: to think about it. It also makes me want to put something on my resume to inform employers/clients that I have a real PE license.
In CA, I am told you used to be able to "grandfather" in for the non-restricted practices when they were being introduced (e.g. Corrosion, Metallurgical, ect). You had to prove decades of experience.I think this was an effort to have those gain popularity, but they never really did... Lot's of these disciplines are no longer offered.

 

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