New(ish) licensing process from NCEES

[rfehr613]

I received my PE in Maryland in 2016. At the time, the process involved following Maryland-specific criteria for detailing experience, education, references, etc.

I've since moved to Pennsylvania and began looking into the requirements for applying for reciprocity in PA. PA directs you to NCEES where you are supposed to log all the aforementioned information into their dashboard under your NCEES account.

The issue is that NCEES seems to suggest that I'll need to obtain all the individual components again, and that there isn't a way to just refer to my current MD license for validation that I've met the requirements. This is a big issue due to the fact that I'm on my third job and it will be extremely difficult (if not impossible) to get the necessary sign offs from my old jobs.

My first firm is still around, but it's a small DBE and most of the employees I worked with have already left. I only worked there 2012-2013.

My second firm is a medium sized and well known firm, but the specific group i was in consisted only of my boss and I. The office I worked in is now closed, my old boss is God knows where (he keeps getting fired from places, so I hear), and nobody who works at the other offices for firm #2 would have any idea who I was or what I worked on while employed there. I worked at this place 2013-2014.

I'm now at my third firm and have been here since 2014. I received my PE while employed here. I transferred to one of their PA offices in 2021, but was asked to get my PA PE this past year.

I know PDH requirements differ from PA to MD. I'm just stuck on how to get my PA license without having to go on a manhunt for someone to sign off on my forms. Has anyone ever had to deal with this situation before?

 

[Hamilton]

Your best bet would probably be to reach out directly to the PA licensing board to see how they would handle your situation. If they do need you to fill out previous experience, would it really be necessary to go all the way back to 2012 to have something signed? What exactly is required as far as "sign offs" goes?

 

[rfehr613]

Your best bet would probably be to reach out directly to the PA licensing board to see how they would handle your situation. If they do need you to fill out previous experience, would it really be necessary to go all the way back to 2012 to have something signed? What exactly is required as far as "sign offs" goes?

I will reach out. The verbiage on their website seems to suggest that all experience necessary for originally obtaining the PE would be required to be submitted. Though I don't see why I couldn't use 4 years at my current employer instead. It still meets NCEES requirements, even if it doesn't match the original form for MD. I'd need all new personal references too, but that would be easier to get.

 

[cupojoe PE PMP]

Yeah you have to reapply to each state you want and they judge based on the information supplied to them. The NCEES record is a way to somewhat standardize it. Going through the record process will make it easier to apply for additional states. You'll have to go through the whole process including references, education, transcripts, etc. The only the your original board sends is your test results. In fact they'll have to send those to NCEES for the record, which seems backwards, but that's the way it is. Some boards will take all of the record, some will want references on their own forms, so they can pick and choose what to accept from the NCEES record. Also don't let your first state expire, ever. Even if you don't use it, you need it active because all your other licenses reference that one.

 

[Lumber Jim]

Yeah you have to reapply to each state you want and they judge based on the information supplied to them. The NCEES record is a way to somewhat standardize it. Going through the record process will make it easier to apply for additional states. You'll have to go through the whole process including references, education, transcripts, etc. The only the your original board sends is your test results. In fact they'll have to send those to NCEES for the record, which seems backwards, but that's the way it is. Some boards will take all of the record, some will want references on their own forms, so they can pick and choose what to accept from the NCEES record. Also don't let your first state expire, ever. Even if you don't use it, you need it active because all your other licenses reference that one.

This ^^^

Just Recently added a second P.E. License through the state board and NCEES and the NCEES process was painful but now it's done and should be easier to maintain. I was lucky enough to have plenty of qualifying years with P.E.s that I could contact yet but I had a situation where a previous P.E. boss could not be contacted so I was looking to HR and some Managers that were around when I was there to validate the statements that I had written related to the experience.

I would suggest to do what you can and get it submitted and then address an issues that come up. Notifying the board ahead of time is a responsible thing to do as well.

Remember that you yourself are already a P.E... explaining your situation and signing your name to it carries some weight, in my experience, as they consider how to assess you especially if you are clear that it might be an issue you would like to address ahead of time.