Recent EIT Advice

[Aaron412]

Hello all!

I just created an account but have been lurking on this forum for quite some time. I recently passed the FE exam and am in need of some advice from fellow PE's and/or experienced individuals.

I graduated in May of 2016 with a petroleum engineering degree. After graduation I could not find a job in that field, but was able to get an engineering role with an environmental/remediation company. I took my FE exam in April and passed. I have ambitions to become a fully licensed engineer, however I am unsure if going into a field I did not study in undergrad is the right decision. I am learning project management and work on estimating new projects (mainly remediation earthwork projects), so naturally my work experience would imply I should take the civil/construction or environmental PE exam when eligible. If I go this route, how difficult would the PE exam be for someone like me with little to no geotech, structural, and materials studies? How many of you guys/gals changed fields completely post graduation? I go back and forth in my mind about going for my masters in something more aligned with my current position, but I'd prefer to not go into more student loan debt.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ngmakhlo_PE]

Hello all!

I just created an account but have been lurking on this forum for quite some time. I recently passed the FE exam and am in need of some advice from fellow PE's and/or experienced individuals.

I graduated in May of 2016 with a petroleum engineering degree. After graduation I could not find a job in that field, but was able to get an engineering role with an environmental/remediation company. I took my FE exam in April and passed. I have ambitions to become a fully licensed engineer, however I am unsure if going into a field I did not study in undergrad is the right decision. I am learning project management and work on estimating new projects (mainly remediation earthwork projects), so naturally my work experience would imply I should take the civil/construction or environmental PE exam when eligible. If I go this route, how difficult would the PE exam be for someone like me with little to no geotech, structural, and materials studies? How many of you guys/gals changed fields completely post graduation? I go back and forth in my mind about going for my masters in something more aligned with my current position, but I'd prefer to not go into more student loan debt.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Did you take the civil FE, the environmental FE? I studied civil engineering in college and I work in the civil field, however I primarily do airport engineering (design and CM) so I was also not sure if I should take the construction exam or transportation so I went with the transportation, busted my butt for almost 4 months to learn the reference material that I almost never use and passed. I suppose it just depends on your effort and time you commit to understanding topics you never usually deal with. Hope that helps!

 

[kpalframan]

I think it's important to have a strong structural and geotech background for the Civil PE exam.  It seems that those two areas cover about 55-65% of the morning exam (rough estimate), however, the topics are fairly easy to pick up on if you take a good review course and put in some study time.  They only ask you one- or two-step problems in the morning so it's honestly not that hard.

I can't speak for any of the afternoon session you mentioned since I'm transportation, but good luck with whatever you choose!

 

[kpalframan]

Also, unless you live in a state that lets you take your PE exam early, there's no need to worry about it for at least a few more years.  You'll forget everything you learned in undergrad and have to re-learn it all either way.  Reassess how you feel about the exam subjects in a few years and you'll have a much easier time making that decision.

 

[Aaron412]

Did you take the civil FE, the environmental FE? I studied civil engineering in college and I work in the civil field, however I primarily do airport engineering (design and CM) so I was also not sure if I should take the construction exam or transportation so I went with the transportation, busted my butt for almost 4 months to learn the reference material that I almost never use and passed. I suppose it just depends on your effort and time you commit to understanding topics you never usually deal with. Hope that helps!

I took the other disciplines FE exam because it was most representative of what I had studied in undergrad. Thanks for the help!

 

[Aaron412]

I think it's important to have a strong structural and geotech background for the Civil PE exam.  It seems that those two areas cover about 55-65% of the morning exam (rough estimate), however, the topics are fairly easy to pick up on if you take a good review course and put in some study time.  They only ask you one- or two-step problems in the morning so it's honestly not that hard.

I can't speak for any of the afternoon session you mentioned since I'm transportation, but good luck with whatever you choose!

Also, unless you live in a state that lets you take your PE exam early, there's no need to worry about it for at least a few more years.  You'll forget everything you learned in undergrad and have to re-learn it all either way.  Reassess how you feel about the exam subjects in a few years and you'll have a much easier time making that decision.

Thanks! And good point on having to wait either way since I am in a state that requires 4 years experience. I think I will just need to devote much more time to studying the material than say a civil engineering grad when I am a year out to take my civil PE. I  just wanted to gage how others felt about this being a reasonable goal. At this point I can't imagine going into the oil and gas field given the uncertainty of employment.