Are pdhonline.org or pdhengineer.com Any Good?

[mikecart1]

Are these places any good? These were 2 of the biggest sites I found when searching alternatives to get PDH hours. Both cost about $25-30 per PDH hour. So basically every 2 years for PA it would cost about $720 at the most (24 PDH x $30/PDH) + $50 renewal fee. I had planned on getting a master's in mechanical engineering and take my time (3-4 years part-time) at the same place I got my undergrad (Virginia Tech) but wanted to take a break since I finished my MBA in 2010.

Advice?

 

[[email protected]]

I've used PDHonline.org before for my continuing education and they worked out just fine. I've started using pdhlibrary.com for my engineering continuing education because they are cheaper even without coupons. I'm registered in florida and they have by far the least expensive Florida board of professional engineers Florida laws and rules course on the internet that I've been able to find.

 

[BluSkyy]

SEO spam

 

[pgm44]

Thanks for the tip on pdhlibrary.com. I will give them a try for the Florida laws and rules course. $25 is a decent deal. I have not tried pdhonline or pdhengineer but I think it would be unusual to pay for all your PDH training. Almost all of the PDH training I obtain each year is from free sources such as webinars or vendor offered training. When you factor in the training hours you can also claim from going to industry recognized organization meetings such as IEEE or ASHRE and the training you can attend if you attend technical seminars for me this has typically exceeded the needed training hours. A few states require specific regulated courses such as the Florida laws and Rules training but that type of requirement is not mandated by most states. I have found the free webinars hosted by consulting specifying engineer magazine to be pretty good and they are free (http://www.csemag.com/media-library/on-demand-webcasts.html. Or go to the case mag.com website and click on webcasts under the media library pull down. There are bunch of free webinars there and you get a certificate at the end after taking an open PDF quiz on the topic heard). The EC&M webinars are sometimes free when you sign up for free on their website to receive the notifications. The ones I attended from them were not as good as the CSE. If you are electrical the Mike Holt webinars I would classify as just OK on content but they are informative. The Emerson network power webinars feel like there is a lot of product selling going on in them and their content has not been very deep technically on the ones I have sat in on.

If you look around, and you typically don't have to look too hard, I expect you can get most of your needed PDH training at little or no cost other than your time and then use the internet training agencies where mandated by the regulating engineering board if you wish. Engineering technical magazines like the ones referenced above are a good resource. Even if the only formally offer paid PDH training they often will email links to free training sessions during the year if you sign up on their mailing lists.

Hope this helps some.

 

[JoeBoone82]

I agree with PGM44. You can join a professional organization/society for less money than that and will get a lot more benefits other than just pdh's (networking, etc). Most, at minimum, have a meeting every month worth 1 pdh. That's 12 per year, not counting the vendor presentations, webinars, or any extra stuff the organization might offer. I recommend http://continuingeducation.zweigwhite.com/ to Civil/Struct Engrs. Free online articles with a quiz at the end of each article. Then just print the pdh.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

I used PDHonline when I was in a pinch on my West Virginia renewal this year (my other two licenses are on 2 year cycles, so I always forget about the 15 hours for WV every other year). The courses were OK, but I ended up submitting almost a complete errata on every single test I took (4 courses) because questions were poorly worded, or there were absolutely no write answer in the multiple choices (for instance, one of them was regarding binary number arithmetic, and all of the answers had a 2 in it).

RedVector is the 800-pound gorilla of online PDH hours. Their courses are OK, but they are crushingly boring.

 

[Exception Collection]

I suspect it varies based on field and location. I do 90% of my work in the SE field (and will hopefully be sitting for the SE next April), and I here in Seattle I can easily go to about one vendor-supplied lunch & learn event a month. In Eugene, I think we heard about one every two to three months. You might also check to see if you can attend a refresher course or similar class at a local college; I took the SEAW-run SE prep class at UW, and received 22 PDHs out of 24 possible (I skipped the bridge class, since it landed on my wedding anniversary; I'd already had a class on Valentine's, and survival trumps classes).

 

[knight1fox3]

Also worth noting again: http://engineerboards.com/index.php?showtopic=20875

 

[Mfriedman]

I realize it is a bit late for the original question, but I think it is worth adding that GeoLearn has some really well done video based PDH courses for the Geospatial Industry. I have taken 3 of their courses already, and been consistently impressed. They have an amazing ALTA Course series by Gary Kent.

 

[James229]

https://suncam.com/ has good courses at low cost.

 

[himanshu]

Better try www.discountpdh.com or  www.pdhexpress.com for your continuing education PDH Courses. You can get webinars also on discountpdh.com. If you want your PDH as a package the try www.discountpdhunlimited.com.