# Civil engineering in Canada



## ATDoel (Jan 23, 2020)

Has anyone made the switch from civil engineering in the states to Canada?  How was the transition?  How did their PE exam compare to ours?  Are there firms that typically look for engineers with an American PE license?  I’m considering moving to Vancouver specifically.


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## DKS (Jan 28, 2020)

@ATDoel While I'm not a civil engineer (I'm a mechanical engineer) and didn't make the transition from the United States to Canada (I'm Canadian), I think I can help with some of your questions, having gone the reverse route of getting licensed in the US after being licensed in Canada.

The closest thing in British Columbia to the PE exam is the Professional Practice Examination (PPE), which tests knowledge of Canadian professional practice, law, and ethics.. This is a computer-based exam that is three and a half hours in length and consists of a two and a half hour, 110 question multiple-choice section, followed by a one hour essay section.  (See also https://www.egbc.ca/Become-a-Member/Professional-Practice-Examination).  This examination requires much less preparation than the PE exam, and has a very narrow scope.  The most challenging part of the multiple-choice portion of the exam is careful reading of the questions to deduce the actual meaning of the question, e.g., the use of double negatives is common; the exam is more often challenging for people whose first language is not English.  (I wrote my PPE in Alberta, which does not have the essay section, so I can't comment on the essay portion of the exam.)

The US PE license is almost useless for engineering work in Canada, as the Canadian P.Eng. license is the only license that is recognized in Canada (and only on a province by province/territory by territory basis).  The US PE license would be more useful for firms doing design work in the US or overseas.

Hope that helps.

Feel free to ask about anything else I may be able to help with.


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