Is P.E. an overrated status?

[Dark Knight]

Hello there,

Had a phone interview with a company in the North. Everything was good until they asked me about the PE.

Interviewer:"Are you a P.E. Luis?"

"Yes I am" - I proudly replied. B)

What the guy said in the other end of the line gave me a cold shower, and I am quoting word by word since I remember them.

" Ah, it is not a big deal anyway.These days anyone can be a P.E. Looks like they are selling it cheaper than ever" :angry:

He changed the subject right away and did not give me a chance to say anything. To be honest with you, I did not know what to say.

What would you say in that situation?

;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns;

 

[Road Guy]

I hear that from a lot of people in Electrical (there are a few other EE Firms in my building) I think its because it seems a lot of the management of an EE firm might be more inclined to have learned client relationships and "winning work" and have not gotten their PE's & thats where the attitude comes from.

so you coming to the states?

 

[EdinNO]

Unless it was an awesome prospect for a job- and maybe even if it were- I would have tried to contain myself and professionally stated to the interviewer that his unprofessional, discourteous and insulting statement illustrated to me that he was not someone for whom I would like to work.

It seems that there are many forces chopping away at the engineering profession. For whatever reason, outsiders are doing what they can to make it a commodity.

Heck with him. Was he an engineer? IF so, was he a P.E.? Perhaps he was jealous.

An older work associate of mine from a job years ago (I still keep in touch with him) told me years ago that those who get P.E. licenses do so to boost their ego. He is an engineer graduate, but has been in sales all his life. Now that I got mine, he states that he never got his because it would mean too much of a personal liability should a project go wrong.

I think he just can't get his license and has to use justification for not having it. Could be the same for your guy. I'd try to forget about it, but it would infuriate me that someone could be so crass and arrogant as to blatantly slap you in the face like that. What a jerk he was!

Ed

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

I was excited when I got my PE, and figured I would get a congrats and a handshake from coworkers.

They made a much bigger deal of it then I expected. When I email management at the home office, our Principal Engineer sent out a global email. I got congratulatory emails from a lot of folks, and they made a point to mention something the next time I stopped by that office. (We have 5 offices all within 2 hours of each other.)

People at state/local agencies and clients suddenly began taking me a lot more seriously as well.

It was instant credibility. I agree with sapper:

The PE exam is the same thing, people will call on you first, and will only stop calling upon you if you prove that you aren't capable. People without the PE license, have to prove they are capable, before they are immediately called upon to do work.

That is exactly how I've felt in my experience so far.

And for the guy who says it's no big deal they hand out PE's to anyone: If that's the case, why isn't everyone in our office from the secretary to the draftsman to the field tech an PE also?

 

[Road Guy]

some people see it this way.....

I had lunch with an "old timer" last week, he has a BSCE, but never took the PE. dont know why, but he has about 25 years experience, clients love him, he is one of the most respected project managers around, He knows he is lacking the PE, and wont ever really be able to move out of that role, but his train of thought is that you can have a PE and still be a dumbass.

I am sure in his view , and I am not saying I agree with it, I am just telling you his view, that he has watched many a young engineer, who probably didnt really have a lot of experience, get his PE after 4 years, and then whine and belly ache about moving up now that they have their PE, I am sure that sort of menataily stings you after a while. So I think that reason is why some people say that, in regard to the PE.

So I am just trying to relay what I think makes some people think this way. I most certainly will take the PE as many times as required to get it, because these days you wont get the chance to become a PM(in civil) without a PE.

Why he wont take the exam? probably because he would have to go back and take the EIT first (in our state).

Another tale :true:

At my old job there was another Senior PM who also didnt have his PE,. he was a horrible manager, horrible engineer, and generally an asshole. He also had about 20 years experience. Since he realized his ticket was up, he spent the time that he should have been working, and studied for the EIT, and passed it, then passed the PE. Today he has his PE, but in the period of 3 years, he is going on his 4th job, about a year ago,I interviewed for his old position after he got canned the last time, they told me they were happy that he was gone.

So the first old timer is correct, you can be a PE and still be a dumbass

 

[cement]

Hello there,
Had a phone interview with a company in the North. Everything was good until they asked me about the PE.

Interviewer:"Are you a P.E. Luis?"

"Yes I am" - I proudly replied. B)

What the guy said in the other end of the line gave me a cold shower, and I am quoting word by word since I remember them.

" Ah, it is not a big deal anyway.These days anyone can be a P.E. Looks like they are selling it cheaper than ever" :angry:

He changed the subject right away and did not give me a chance to say anything. To be honest with you, I did not know what to say.

What would you say in that situation?

;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns;

a bargain shopper, he is setting you up for a low ball offer.

if you did not have the PE, that would be the reason, you have the PE, it means little.

you don't want to work for a company that can not or will not pay for quality people. :resp

 

[DVINNY]

Sounds to me like he's too damn dumb to pass it himself and he has a chip on his shoulder.

My advise: You don't want to work with him.

p.s. (Not that I've been smart enough to pass the PE yet myself)

 

[Dark Knight]

Hello there,

This is response to RG who asked me a question....

I am not coming to the states. I am already here. I am just trying to move away from Florida, the high cost of living where I live and the salary I have where I work.

I thought that now it was going to be easier since I get my license but so far my count is 0 balls, 1 strike.

;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns; ;guns;

 

[Road Guy]

10-4.

I am sure you will get a "hit" soon.

Just give it a little patience.

I looked into moving to FLorida a few years back,(jacksonville) reallyt hated to turn the offer down, but my same house would have cost an extra $100K in jacksonville, unless I wanted to commute an hour to work, so I figured that would be the same rat racec here in Atlanta.

Louis, get your resume on Monster.com & Careerbuilder.com with your new PE title and list that you are willing to relocate, you should get plenty of calls

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

Move to northern New England. If I got 4 offers, imagine how many a good engineer would actually get! :true:

 

[EdinNO]

Good advice about resume on Monster. I did that based on RG's advice a few weeks back and have gotten several hits. One made me an offer (although I did hit the "apply now" button on their add) and another I am going to meet this afternoon (this one found me all on his own). I have had at least close to a dozen others in the last few weeks but none of the others were interesting. But within a few weeks I hope to have two offers on the table.

Thanks RG! :thumbsup:

Ed

 

[TouchDown]

Agreed on the Monster / Careerbuilder. I have a resume out there and get 2-3 openings requesting me to apply, but almost all are east coast / west coast. I want to stay in my little po-dunk town, but it's good to know what else is out there.

Wonder how much headhunters make?

 

[TouchDown]

2-3 request / week...

 

[Road Guy]

when we use a headhunter generally their fee is 20% of the new hires starting salary. which is why we try like hell not to use them....

 

[EdinNO]

I think they (headhunters) make TOO much.

Ed

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

This is the guy my firm uses.

 

[EdinNO]

Man, I bet that's a Ralph Lauren hoola skirt. I know that's a Gucci nose bone and a Versachi feather hat. He probably even rides a zebra named Hummer. See- he makes way too many bones.

ed

 

[benbo]

Here are my thoughts on this-

1. If it didn't matter he wouldn't have asked.

2. It certainly does matter if you are going to stamp documents.

3. Other than that, it is a good sorting tool for HR/ hiring folks.

4. If it was so easy to pass, the pass rates would be higher.

That said, I've looked at some old PE exams when they did the essay format and those things were really, really hard. At least for electrical. There was no easy breadth and hard depth - just a morning essay session and afternoon multiple choice. They asked you to actually design things in the exam - like "given this Mosfet, desing a Colpitts oscillator with blah blah characteristics", or "design a Butterworth bandpass filter with xxx ripple and blah blah." It looked tough to me. Of course, they gave partial credit.

 

[redrum]

where did you get a peak at the old exams?

wouldnt mind having a little look see myslef...

 

[benbo]

CEHopeful -

Should have been more clear. These were old practice exams released by NCEES. Also an old practice exam Camara (the guy that currently does the practice exam for "the other board"). I found them in my university bookstore and a used technical bookstore. You can probably find them on the internet somewhere.