NY State application

[engineer123]

For New York, do you need a licensed PE to sign off on your application? I'm hearing that you don't necessarily need one. Does it "help" (i.e. make approval easier) if you get a PE to sign off anyway?

Are there any other interesting rules or tips I should know for NY State before I apply? Thank you!

 

[NY-Computer-Engineer]

For New York, do you need a licensed PE to sign off on your application? I'm hearing that you don't necessarily need one. Does it "help" (i.e. make approval easier) if you get a PE to sign off anyway?

Are there any other interesting rules or tips I should know for NY State before I apply? Thank you!

In New York no need for a PE (although they ask yes/no and the number if they happen to be one).  The most important thing is having the actual manager who oversaw your work sign it.  If you just get a co-worker with a PE they will question why your supervisor/manager could not be the one that signs.

I really don't think having a PE sign or not helps in anyway - in New York.  I know of three others (besides myself) who did not have a PE and none had any questions raised (or extra credit given).

 

[engineer123]

@NY-Computer-Engineer Thanks for your reply. Do you happen to know up to how many times one can fail the exam in NY? Also, even If I fail once, do I need to submit my work experience application all over again?

 

[bsimms89]

I had my supervisor who wasn't a PE sign for my last 3 years experience. The board did email me and ask why I didn't have a PE as my endorser, and I responded that because he was my direct supervisor which is what they had asked for, I gave them all the certifications and experience he did have, and also said if they would like I could also have a PE who was not my direct supervisor but who was familiar with my work that I worked with often sign as an endorser. They approved my application and didn't ask for the additional PE to endorse it as well.

I can't answer if you have top submit again if you fail, I was wondering about that also, but I passed the first time

 

[JayKay PE]

@NY-Computer-Engineer Thanks for your reply. Do you happen to know up to how many times one can fail the exam in NY? Also, even If I fail once, do I need to submit my work experience application all over again?

I've failed the exam twice already (both civil/construction) and have re-taken the exam this past October 2018.  You do not need to resubmit your application again, but you do need to pay to sit again during the open registration.  When it closes, they should just give you blanket permission to re-sit.  NYS is a "take it until you make it"-state.  Nowhere on the NYSED website does it mention a limit to how many times you can take the exam, or if you need to take a refresher course after a significant number of failures.

 

[bsimms89]

Just be warned NY is much slower than other states, it took them over 8 weeks to issue my license after the results were released. Also i recently filed to form a PLLC (professional sevices limited liability company) and called the department of education after I sent out the forms, they said to expect it to take 12-14 weeks as they are backlogged, I've also seen people here applying to NY for comity licenses that take over a year for them to get.

 

[NY-Computer-Engineer]

I've failed the exam twice already (both civil/construction) and have re-taken the exam this past October 2018.  You do not need to resubmit your application again, but you do need to pay to sit again during the open registration.  When it closes, they should just give you blanket permission to re-sit.  NYS is a "take it until you make it"-state.  Nowhere on the NYSED website does it mention a limit to how many times you can take the exam, or if you need to take a refresher course after a significant number of failures.

The only caution I make however is that you only have five years from the time you originally submitted the N application for the PE exam.  Although the Website does not say anything specific about that, it is in the NYS Administrative Law that you only have five years.  This is also one of things they specifically check on once you've passed that could delay your license being issued.  I've heard they make you submit something similar to a supplemental application that needs to be approved by the NY Board if you fall into that bucket.  I've heard tell of someone having their license delayed another year because of that, and they had to pay some additional fee as well.

 

[JayKay PE]

The only caution I make however is that you only have five years from the time you originally submitted the N application for the PE exam.  Although the Website does not say anything specific about that, it is in the NYS Administrative Law that you only have five years.  This is also one of things they specifically check on once you've passed that could delay your license being issued.  I've heard they make you submit something similar to a supplemental application that needs to be approved by the NY Board if you fall into that bucket.  I've heard tell of someone having their license delayed another year because of that, and they had to pay some additional fee as well.

I actually didn't know this, but when you think about it, wouldn't most people be trying to get their PE ASAP following acceptance?  And I thought the 5-years was upon NYSED accepting your application (since that is a date you are actually able to register for exams)?  Even so, the 5-years if it does start on original submittal, still gives you at minimum 8-attempts at the PE exam, which I think is a semi-adequate attempt to either get the license or realize that you should start looking for job that don't need PE stamps due to conditional approvals.

 

[engineer123]

Thanks all for the replies!

@JayKay0914Did you happen to take the PE Environmental? They are switching to computer based exam this upcoming April 2019, so you'll have more than 8 attempts if the "5 years Administrative law" is legit.  lol

 

[JayKay PE]

Thanks all for the replies!

@JayKay0914Did you happen to take the PE Environmental? They are switching to computer based exam this upcoming April 2019, so you'll have more than 8 attempts if the "5 years Administrative law" is legit.  lol

I actually took the civil/construction exam twice before switching to environmental this past testing round.  On one hand, CBT gives me more opportunities to take the exam/get my results faster, on the other hand...The current reference that NCEES has generated for the exam has a ton of errors and the environmental exam covers so much that I'm not really sure how this CBT will go.  Like, for the other exam that is CBT, which I think is only chem eng at this time, it makes more sense?  Because if your're a chem.eg, that's all your're doing, whereas for environmental engineers...you can go your whole career technically never doing some of the things they're testing you on?

 

[RBHeadge PE]

@JayKay0914 They are switching to computer based exam this upcoming April 2019, so you'll have more than 8 attempts if the "5 years Administrative law" is legit.  lol

I thought I read that the Envr CBT starts Jan 1, but I can't find the reference. The exam spec imply it starts in April 2019, but I'm pretty sure that's not the case. I supposed someone could log into their MyNCEES portal and try to register for that exam to see the available dates. While they're in there they can F5 the results page too

On one hand, CBT gives me more opportunities to take the exam/get my results faster, on the other hand...The current reference that NCEES has generated for the exam has a ton of errors and the environmental exam covers so much that I'm not really sure how this CBT will go.  Like, for the other exam that is CBT, which I think is only chem eng at this time, it makes more sense?  Because if your're a chem.eg, that's all your're doing, whereas for environmental engineers...you can go your whole career technically never doing some of the things they're testing you on?

Chemical is year round CBT. Nuclear just had the inaugural 1x/year CBT a couple weeks ago.

I get your thesis. EnvrE is a diverse field and the test is very diverse. NukeE is a relatively narrow discipline, but the exam is quite broad. And since most NukeE defacto specialize into sub discipline stovepipes when out of school, and it makes the test even more difficult. ChemE is no different (petro, pharm, energy, polymers, materials, etc). Point is, every test is broad, difficult, and will need study outside day-to-day work activities to pass.

 

[JayKay PE]

Chemical is year round CBT. Nuclear just had the inaugural 1x/year CBT a couple weeks ago.

I get your thesis. EnvrE is a diverse field and the test is very diverse. NukeE is a relatively narrow discipline, but the exam is quite broad. And since most NukeE defacto specialize into sub discipline stovepipes when out of school, and it makes the test even more difficult. ChemE is no different (petro, pharm, energy, polymers, materials, etc). Point is, every test is broad, difficult, and will need study outside day-to-day work activities to pass.

Totally understand that ever field is broad, especially 5+ years out of college when you'd have the opportunity to study and/or look-up something you don't know.  I think I was more concerned about the NCEES reference having so many errors in it and that being the only reference allowed/that being the main study aid to familiarize yourself with before the exam?  And I thought I saw somewhere that you can only take the CBT once every three months/90-days?  Or that might be for the exam in general (for some reason I feel like I saw that language on an official NCEES thing when I was sitting for previous exams).

 

[RBHeadge PE]

Totally understand that ever field is broad, especially 5+ years out of college when you'd have the opportunity to study and/or look-up something you don't know.  I think I was more concerned about the NCEES reference having so many errors in it and that being the only reference allowed/that being the main study aid to familiarize yourself with before the exam?  And I thought I saw somewhere that you can only take the CBT once every three months/90-days? 

First I heard that it can only happen every 90 days, but that makes a lot of sense and it a good idea.

Those manuals always have errors at first and I'm honestly not sure how helpful they are during the tests. I barely remember using the manual during the FE exam.

 

[RBHeadge PE]

@JayKay0914They are switching to computer based exam this upcoming April 2019, so you'll have more than 8 attempts if the "5 years Administrative law" is legit.  lol

I thought I read that the Envr CBT starts Jan 1, but I can't find the reference. The exam spec imply it starts in April 2019, but I'm pretty sure that's not the case. I supposed someone could log into their MyNCEES portal and try to register for that exam to see the available dates. While they're in there they can F5 the results page too

Or I should have seen the big message on the NCEES homepage stating that it's April 2018. Oops.

 

[engineer123]

@NY-Computer-Engineer@JayKay0914@RBHeadge PE Hey All, when submitting your work experience application, is there a particular format the experience should be written in? paragraphs or bullet format? I would assume bullet format makes it easier to read. Any advice here would be much appreciated!

 

[RBHeadge PE]

I wouldn't know about NYS. I applied in Maryland; did mostly paragraph form.

 

[JayKay PE]

I did it as paragraphs but had each project I worked on underlined/bolded and the description of what I completed for the project indented in. Did my draft in a word doc and copy+pasted in so it would keep formatting. I think bullets would work for long long projects where your responsibilities changed and you became more competent. 

 

[NY-Computer-Engineer]

@NY-Computer-Engineer@JayKay0914@RBHeadge PE Hey All, when submitting your work experience application, is there a particular format the experience should be written in? paragraphs or bullet format? I would assume bullet format makes it easier to read. Any advice here would be much appreciated!

I used mostly bullets, however In most cases I led off (or ended) a section with a regular paragraph.   For example:

        Atlas Project Maintenance and Support Phase                                                                                                                                 00 yrs    11 mos.

        Entered a steady-state phase of the Atlas project, which included:

• Continuous software engineering improvements to enhance functionality, usability, maintainability, and performance
  
• Training new application developers in the effective use of the Atlas ‘Flow’programming language while creating and modifying bank applications based on the Atlas architecture
  
• Porting Atlas to additional variants of the Unix operating system, such as Linux and Windows workstations
  
• Improvements and expansion of the Atlas API allowing use in many more back-office software and application uses
  

             Note: The Atlas architecture was a notable success for Manufacturers Hanover Trust and Chemical Bank. Atlas was used

                        by the merged entity in both the Branches and back-office for over 15 years after its initial pilot deployment.

 

[bsimms89]

I did the same as NY Computer Engineer,  I named the project, wrote a short paragraph describing the project, then said "the specific duties I performed were:" and listed bullet points of everything I did on each project. Since I have worked more in structural renovations, restoration, and steel erecting I've worked on a ton of different projects in 5 years (unlike some of my new construction design engineer friends who have only worked on maybe 2 or 3 projects in that time) and had over 30 pages of experience listed.

 

[engineer123]

Hi @NY-Computer-Engineer, just wondering how do we follow up on the status of our forms (for approval to sit for the exam). When I log into NCEES, I dont see any online options to view the status. Do I just have to contact the NYS board directly by calling or emailing? Asking a fellow new yorker so thanks in advance!