Experience for PE license and changing jobs

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shezadeh

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From my understanding, most, if not all states require 4 years of work experience for one to officially earn the P.E. license (provided they do not have an advanced degree). Also, the way I understood the process is that another P.E. "petitions" for you to get a P.E. and describes your work for those 4 years, etc.

What happens to someone who changes jobs within these 4 years?

 
When you apply for PE licensure you need to give a description of your experience to the board. All the work you performed were supposed to be done under the direction of a PE. If you change jobs you can still use that experience you just need to include him (the PE) in your references.

 
You do not clearly understand the requirements process. I suggest that you review the state that you wish to become licensed in for their specific rules and regulations. All are similar, but different. The process, in general is as follows.

A. You graduate from an ABET accredited university with a bachelor of science of engineering degree.

B. You petition to take the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination, attaining a passing score

C. You work for 4 years to gain satisfactory experience. Your work does NOT have to be under a licensed professional engineer, however, you must have at least 3 of 5 of your references be currently licensed professional engineers.

D. You petition to take the Professional Engineer examination. If you attain a passing score, the state will then grant you a license to practice engineering in the discipline in which you initially tested.

This is the simple version of the process. Go to www.ncees.org. They describe the process in great detail and clarity.

This is NOT like a fraternal lodge where someone "petitions" for you to become licensed. YOU are responsible for doing all of the work required for licensure. You have to have licensed PE's attest to your work on your supplemental experience record. The above cited site clearly explains all of this to you.

If your degree is not from an ABET accredited university, there are provisions to address that matter also. Again the NCEES site explains how that works. This is not spooky or complicated-- it is complex, however, if you follow the steps described, you too can become a licensed professional engineer.

 
If your degree is not from an ABET accredited university, there are provisions to address that matter also. Again the NCEES site explains how that works. This is not spooky or complicated-- it is complex, however, if you follow the steps described, you too can become a licensed professional engineer.
If it’s not ABET accredited, than you’ll have to do credential evaluation of the degree you have at NCEES credential evaluations branch and they will determine if the degree you have from “not ABET accredited” university is “Equal” .. that’s it!

 
If your degree is not from an ABET accredited university, there are provisions to address that matter also. Again the NCEES site explains how that works. This is not spooky or complicated-- it is complex, however, if you follow the steps described, you too can become a licensed professional engineer.
If it’s not ABET accredited, than you’ll have to do credential evaluation of the degree you have at NCEES credential evaluations branch and they will determine if the degree you have from “not ABET accredited” university is “Equal” .. that’s it!


And then the crazy part about that, for foreign students, it's usually the non-technical classes that prevent them from being able to sit for the exams. A friend of mine has an engineering degree from India (probably 20+ hrs more design courses than an ABET curriculum here in the U.S., and probably would be ranked fairly high in quality when compared to all ABET schools) and he has a master's in engineering here in the U.S. He can't sit for the FE/EIT exam because his undergrad does not meet U.S. undergrad curriculum. The courses he lacks are things like Art, nothing that would affect his technical or design abilities. Maybe that's just me, but that seems a little ridiculous.

 
those nontechnical classes are supposed to make you a more well rounded candidate, a more complete package.

 
those nontechnical classes are supposed to make you a more well rounded candidate, a more complete package.


Humanities are important. We should never eliminate them, otherwise it may open the window to scarifying ethics.

 
I believe there are states that will allow you to sit without evaluation of a foreign degree. CA,CT for example.

 
If your degree is not from an ABET accredited university, there are provisions to address that matter also. Again the NCEES site explains how that works. This is not spooky or complicated-- it is complex, however, if you follow the steps described, you too can become a licensed professional engineer.
If it’s not ABET accredited, than you’ll have to do credential evaluation of the degree you have at NCEES credential evaluations branch and they will determine if the degree you have from “not ABET accredited” university is “Equal” .. that’s it!


And then the crazy part about that, for foreign students, it's usually the non-technical classes that prevent them from being able to sit for the exams. A friend of mine has an engineering degree from India (probably 20+ hrs more design courses than an ABET curriculum here in the U.S., and probably would be ranked fairly high in quality when compared to all ABET schools) and he has a master's in engineering here in the U.S. He can't sit for the FE/EIT exam because his undergrad does not meet U.S. undergrad curriculum. The courses he lacks are things like Art, nothing that would affect his technical or design abilities. Maybe that's just me, but that seems a little ridiculous.

And then you take the 7 credit-hours arts courses in history or foreign language and all your previous 15 years of engineering experiences are set = 0.0.

 
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