ChE PE Questions

[FusionWhite]

Couple questions about getting a PE as a ChE. Currently Im working as a consultant doing environmental "stuff" (phase 1's 2's and 3's, water quality, air quality etc). As a consultant of course Ill need my PE to ever move up in the company. However my goal is to eventually move into a manufacturing job, I cooped in a plant and LOVED it and consulting pays well but just isnt what I want to do as my career. So my questions are:

A) Without practical experience in a chemical plant or chemical environment will I be able to pass the PE with a reasonable amount of studying?

B) Will the PE help me land a job outside the consulting sector? Or do employers which dont really require it just think Im over qualified?

C) By working in environmental for the next few years while I wait to take the PE am I hurting my chances of being able to change fields (from environmental to manufacturing)?

 

[Timber]

Fusion:

I like your forward way of thinking. Simply put, you know what you want. Now how do you ensure you achieve that goal.

Simple - You Go For It.

You want to work in Manufacturing, then get busy working your way into manufacturing. I personally think your enthusiam alone will gurantee you entrance based on your current creditials. Which of course I am assuming you have already graduated, hold an E.I. with 2-4 yrs exp under your belt.

Now as for being percieved as over qualified with a PE. Nice try, but I don't see that happening. It's a nice notch on the belt, but it only gets you so far. There will always be EI's that wil contest to this.

My '.02' - Do what makes you happy! Time travels at a constant speed, as far as i am concerned. The thing i have noticed is my perception of time has varied over time. (Life comes at you pretty quick, five years fall by and your left wondering why am i still doing this, I always intended being involved with this) I hope you get my point. Don't wait on the system, create your own.

Best of luck, who knows, you may find out that the direction you've already chosen is in fact a perfect solution.

 

[FusionWhite]

Your right about waiting and letting time pass you by. I planned on staying with my current company and getting some experience under my belt (I graduated about a year and a half ago) before moving on but Im worried that when I do try to look for something else Ill be stuck in my current field. I would hate to think Im going to pigeon hole myself into environmental work.

 

[Mahendra]

Fusion,

You might as well be talking about my life story. I am in the same boat, I have a ChE but have worked in the env consulting for last six years. The only difference is that I am not sure what I want to do. So I am kind of "floating" around. So far I think I will take the Env PE this spring (if I can get myself to study).

I justed wanted to add one thing, even though I know that I will not stay in this field very long, I feel left out by all the PEs around me. I feel like a guy with only a High school diploma with a bunch of college graduates around me. The only reason I will take the PE exam is for myself. I am 99.99% sure I will not need it in my next career, but I feel that it validates me somehow! Does this make any sense? I am not sure if any body feels the same way or if this sounds stupid. I just figure that instead just doing nothing after I come back from work, might as well study and get that extra certificate!

 

[MetroRAFB]

I am 99.99% sure I will not need it in my next career, but I feel that it validates me somehow! Does this make any sense?

Yes it does. Makes perfect sense to me. At my freshman engineering orientation (they had a seperate one just for engineering majors) they gave us the "look to your left and to your right, neither of those people will graduate engineers" routine, and they were right. Approx. 75% of the people at my engineering school changed majors or dropped out before graduation. From that very moment, I knew I would not be whole professionally without passing the PE exam. It has always been a very important personal goal, and I'm happy to report that I passed. Nobody can ever take that away from you, stick with your convictions and pass the test. It's a very satisfying feeling to get that passing letter. :true:

 

[lovelandtx]

I never thought I'd ever have to stamp anything as a Chemical Engr. PE, but right after I received it a client of our wanted some drawings stamped. Since I did most of the process and instrument work, it was a breeze to review. We have other PE's at our company that could've stamped the drawings but it would have taken them about 100 hrs to review everything in it's entirety. It actually was very timely for me to get my PE.

The PE is worth it for those engineers in the consulting type businesses.