Environmental or Che PE?

[jvdocs]

Good day all,

I hold a BS in Chemical Engineering. I took the General EIT last year and passed it. However for the last 3 years, I have been working on a variety of things (technical, non technical) due to the nature of our consulting business. Mostly, I have diverted my work into writing federal and state permits for different mining (environmental) and construction work such as , which required assessing water quality, etc.

I am confused if I should be taking the Chemical PE or the Environmental PE. If I do take the Enviro PE, I have to learn a lot of new topics, but I plan on working in this field. The only pros for me to write the Chemical PE is that I am familiar with half of the topics for the exam, but I still have to do a lot of review.

My thought is to go ahead and learn the new topics for the Enviro PE exam, and I plan on reviewing a lot earlier as I have to put in the extra hours to learn the new stuff.. Any suggestions?

Thank you.

 

[snickerd3]

I am/was in your same situation. ChemE working in the enviromental world. I took and passed the chemical exam because I would have to learn less new things. But it really depends on the state you live in. Illinois's PE is not disciple specifc, except structural. We are allowed to practice within our area of compentency/knowledge. So between book knowledge and experience knowledge, I could hypothetically stamp either.

 

[jvdocs]

Thanks for the reply , Snikerd3. I reside in Michigan, and they do not evaluate by discipline either. So just need to decide which one to opt for. Its been 4 years and I have forgotten most of the Chem E calculations. . but can def go back to learning it quickly, I would be feeling weird studying for the chem exam when I know I wont be using it one bit at work.. so , have mixed feelings ! I know it will be useful for me to learn the enviro stuff if I plan to work on enviro consulting in the future. .

desicions, desicions..

 

[snickerd3]

I know what you mean and the knowledge does come back. I think I understood thigns better after taking the test than I did during school, but I have forgotten it all again seeing as it has been 5 yrs since I passed. At the time I wasn't sure how long I'd stay in environmental world so I went back and forth too. There is actually quite a bit of overlap between the two but there are some major topics that are brand spanking new too.

 

[FLBuff PE]

I was in a similar position...except with environmental and geotechnical. I work for a geotechnical firm, and am the environmental engineer in the office. However, I am also the geotechnical engineer (other than my boss, who is the other PE in this office), and practice in both fields. At the time, I felt that my knowledge base was stronger in enviro, so I went with that exam. I felt there were going to be a lot more unknowns on the geo exam, and if I took that one, I would have had to take the morning breadth section of the civil PE exam, which scared the bejeezus out of me. With enviro, I knew that there were more questions (100 vs 80), but spread across 5 topics that I felt relatively comfortable in. Long story short, go with what you know and are more comfortable with. In a state that lets you practice in what you are comfortable/competent in, do whatever you can to pass.

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

I agree you should go for whatever you are strongest in. Get that license so you can earn more and have more opportunities. You can always take the other one later if it still seems necessary at your convenience.

I will probably take the civil in a few years since my college background is envl, but professionally I've been doing site civil for 10 years.

 

[jvdocs]

Thanks FLBluff PE and VT Enviro, I will take a closer look at the topics and mostly go for the chem in that case.. you are right- its important to pass the exam !

 

[Peele1]

Buy the NCEES samples of each, and see which one you like the best.

I planned to do the PE - Computer, switched to Electrical/Electronics, and settled on Power. I passed the Power. My undergraduate degree was more breadth than depth, so I had classes in them all. In my job, I do a combination of them all.

I believe that other than structural, in most states, there is little difference in the work that you can do as a PE, regardless of which one you pass.

 

[Dleg]

I'd lean toward the Enviro exam. If that's what you want to be doing, you will be a little more competitve having your license in that field. I think you'll find that it's not too much different than Chem Eng., except for hydraulics. But you can easily learnt hat through the ENVRM and practice problems - I did - my degree was in Mechanical, and I had no problem picking up the different topics in Env.

 

[rkn4569]

I was in a similar situation (BS in chemE but working in environmental field) I decided to take the env exam and passed it. I recommend taking the env exam because ultimately the new subject areas that you have to learn for the exam are subjects that you would want to be familiar with in your career anyway. Good Luck.

 

[dontlikebeinganeng]

Got my B.S. in ChemE, worked in environmental for 3 years. Ended up getting CA Civil PE.

Now switched over to oil industry and found it useless. Oh well!

 

[jvdocs]

Thanks for the response guys ! @ rkn4569, did you take a course to study for the ENV exam?

 

[rkn4569]

I took the LEP course. Dr. Sursarla "teaches" the course. Its really just a self study program with lots of material that he provides. He was a big help though working through some of the more obscure topics and trickier problems. I would recommend him to anyone looking to take the env PE exam.