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mikecart1

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Joined
Jun 4, 2012
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Location
Pittsburgh, PA
Was pretty surprised based on how slow PA was to give results out for the April 2012 exam. Looks good too. It is 8.5" x 11" with a gold emblem, my PE license number, and everything. Going to be framing this bad boy this weekend and will be ordering my stamp now. Ironically I have had a vacation planned starting tomorrow that was planned over 2 months ago. Life is funny sometimes when it just works out perfectly.

Place: New Orleans

Contact: Don't Bother

Alcohol: Plenty

Girls: Yeahhhh buddy!

:D

 
Congrats fellow new PE! Give it another day or two and you should be receiving your formal license document and wallet license card.

 
Congrats fellow new PE! Give it another day or two and you should be receiving your formal license document and wallet license card.
What is the formal license document? I thought the certificate was that? Did you pass this April? Have you received all 3 already?

 
What is the formal license document? I thought the certificate was that? Did you pass this April? Have you received all 3 already?
Yep I just passed the April 2012 test. I also thought the tan certificate with the gold emblem was the formal license document (and it may be), but they will also send you a document similar to a birth certificate, printed on that "official" looking paper that fades from blue to pink in the background, probably with a water mark on it somewhere. They'll send you a document that's perforated down the middle, where one half is this formal license document/record, and the other half has a tear-out wallet sized license card. Looks like they will send this every time we renew our license, because mine shows license expiry in September 2013. So the long and short is that the 8.5x11 certificate with the gold emblem is for framing on the wall, and the smaller blue+pink certificate is for keeping in your "Important Items" file as hard-copy proof that you are a licensed PE.

 
Yeah I've seen my coworkers with a PE in PA with that blue and pink background document. It is smaller. I will still frame this 8.5 x 11" document for the mean time.

Thanks for the info though. Let us know when you get more documents so I will know if I should expect them soon.

 
Yeah what most people do is frame the certificate and then keep the offical license (1/2 of 8.5x11 sized document) or the wallet card jammed into the corner of the framed certificate because IT HAS THE EXPIRATION date on it. The certificate does not have an exiration date on it. Also don't forget to sign the wallet card and the license to activate them. And I think we are supposed to order an embossed seal as well - I read on that document that came with the license that we have to have an embossed seal before we can get the rubber stamp or the electronic version.

Also so yeah PA seems to be technically ahead of the other states on some things. We can officially call ourselves PE the day we find out we passed the exam because we have the state issued license number the day we get the exam results. We also can order the seal immediately because of that fact. Finally, less than two weeks for the certificate, official license, and wallet card are not bad at all.

Also I framed my certificate and everytime I look at it I think - Man I really did that! I wonder if that feeling ever fades. haha. Either way what a summer!

Question - Does everyone overlay their signature on the seal when in electronic format? I have seen several people do this with the physical stamp or embossing so I assume most do this on the electronic version. Do you have any pointers on what is the best way to create a quality stacked file that works well in Acad? I guess I am asing what program u use to scan and copy and what resolution I should shoot for. Any insight would be great. I am not at a firm and only do some work on the side. Also I got my electronic vrsion from engineeringseals.com.

 
Yeah what most people do is frame the certificate and then keep the offical license (1/2 of 8.5x11 sized document) or the wallet card jammed into the corner of the framed certificate because IT HAS THE EXPIRATION date on it. The certificate does not have an exiration date on it. Also don't forget to sign the wallet card and the license to activate them. And I think we are supposed to order an embossed seal as well - I read on that document that came with the license that we have to have an embossed seal before we can get the rubber stamp or the electronic version.

Also so yeah PA seems to be technically ahead of the other states on some things. We can officially call ourselves PE the day we find out we passed the exam because we have the state issued license number the day we get the exam results. We also can order the seal immediately because of that fact. Finally, less than two weeks for the certificate, official license, and wallet card are not bad at all.

Also I framed my certificate and everytime I look at it I think - Man I really did that! I wonder if that feeling ever fades. haha. Either way what a summer!

Question - Does everyone overlay their signature on the seal when in electronic format? I have seen several people do this with the physical stamp or embossing so I assume most do this on the electronic version. Do you have any pointers on what is the best way to create a quality stacked file that works well in Acad? I guess I am asing what program u use to scan and copy and what resolution I should shoot for. Any insight would be great. I am not at a firm and only do some work on the side. Also I got my electronic vrsion from engineeringseals.com.
Received both the license and wallet card over the weekend. Thought about separating the wallet card and getting it laminated but then I they are attached to some instructions that I may need in the future to register or renew. I will probably just frame it in a separate cheap frame from Michael's so I will have the certificate and license separated in their own frames at work haha. I saw some people must not be as proud where I work. They jam a thumb tack through the license into the cubicle wall and their certificate is jammed under pictures lol.

I know what you mean though. I will have it framed at work so if I ever question myself, I can realize that 1 day for 8 hours, I was really great at engineering ahaha! :D

 
Yeah what most people do is frame the certificate and then keep the offical license (1/2 of 8.5x11 sized document) or the wallet card jammed into the corner of the framed certificate because IT HAS THE EXPIRATION date on it. The certificate does not have an exiration date on it. Also don't forget to sign the wallet card and the license to activate them. And I think we are supposed to order an embossed seal as well - I read on that document that came with the license that we have to have an embossed seal before we can get the rubber stamp or the electronic version.

Also so yeah PA seems to be technically ahead of the other states on some things. We can officially call ourselves PE the day we find out we passed the exam because we have the state issued license number the day we get the exam results. We also can order the seal immediately because of that fact. Finally, less than two weeks for the certificate, official license, and wallet card are not bad at all.

Also I framed my certificate and everytime I look at it I think - Man I really did that! I wonder if that feeling ever fades. haha. Either way what a summer!

Question - Does everyone overlay their signature on the seal when in electronic format? I have seen several people do this with the physical stamp or embossing so I assume most do this on the electronic version. Do you have any pointers on what is the best way to create a quality stacked file that works well in Acad? I guess I am asing what program u use to scan and copy and what resolution I should shoot for. Any insight would be great. I am not at a firm and only do some work on the side. Also I got my electronic vrsion from engineeringseals.com.
Received both the license and wallet card over the weekend. Thought about separating the wallet card and getting it laminated but then I they are attached to some instructions that I may need in the future to register or renew. I will probably just frame it in a separate cheap frame from Michael's so I will have the certificate and license separated in their own frames at work haha. I saw some people must not be as proud where I work. They jam a thumb tack through the license into the cubicle wall and their certificate is jammed under pictures lol.

I know what you mean though. I will have it framed at work so if I ever question myself, I can realize that 1 day for 8 hours, I was really great at engineering ahaha! :D
Ain't that the truth!

As far as displaying my certificate and license, I'm somewhere in the middle on the "pride" spectrum. I tore out the wallet card, signed it and stuck it in my wallet (unlaminated), then signed my license and did a high-res color scan and emailed it to myself at work. The actual license is filed away safely at home, and I printed out the color scanned copy at work and thumb-tacked it to my cubicle wall.

I'm still not sure what to do with the fancy beige certificate. I will frame it, but I'm thinking that displaying it in a frame at work could be a bit pretentious. I think for now I'll hang it up in the home office.

 
I am still waiting for mine. I bought a house and moved at the end of April. I updated my information with NCEES and PCS thinking that would be sufficient, apparently not. I called the Board to check on the status of my certificate and was informed that it was in fact sent out but to my previous address. Since it is a legal document USPS will not forward it to my current address. I had fill out a form for a change of address and pay to have the license and certificate re-issued. Should be here this week.

 
I am still waiting for mine. I bought a house and moved at the end of April. I updated my information with NCEES and PCS thinking that would be sufficient, apparently not. I called the Board to check on the status of my certificate and was informed that it was in fact sent out but to my previous address. Since it is a legal document USPS will not forward it to my current address. I had fill out a form for a change of address and pay to have the license and certificate re-issued. Should be here this week.
Received everything now including stamp and seal embosser. Pretty cool. Got everything framed nicely ($4.99 frames from Michael's FTW lol). Engineerseals.com is great and make great products although I wish I didn't have to pay $80 heh. I used the stamp the first time yesterday and it looks sharp but bleeds into notebook paper. Probably better for computer or layout paper.

Now I need to decide how I want to satisfy my continuing education credits to maintain the PE. Would like to have my time used for something solid that I might be able to use for my resume. Too many people take the easy way out and attend some seminar or some presentation and have that count towards hours. Trying to kill 2 birds with 1 stone on my hours. Debating between:

1) Engineering graduate certificate programs (ability to do less course load than full blown Master's degree work - usually 9-12 credits and have a certificate that counts for all the hours needed for PE and finishes something I can add to resume). Also I can take different topics every couple of years and build my knowledge base without the huge time and $$$ investment of actual master's degrees.

2) Professional presentations like ASME

3) Generic work presentations and meetings (cheapest aka free but not really something worth my time - probably laziest and easiest way to satisfy hours)

4) Masters degree in electrical, mechanical, or other engineering (already have BSME, MBA, might as well go for a 3rd LOL). Costly and time consuming but imagine a resume with: BSME, MBA, PE, and MSxx. Hard core! :D

 
@Mikecart1

That depends on your point of view. Your impressive resume wouldn't look so impressive to a company in this economy that would say..."Boy...pass this guy up, we would have to pay him too much". (Just kidding)

 
Off-topic (but so I don't have to create a new thread): I got licensed June 2012 and my expiration date is September 2013. Do I need to get all 24 continuing education credits before September 2013? Or do I prorate the credits by the amount of time I have been licensed (i.e. ~1.5 years licensed, so 18 credits instead of 24)?

 
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