Required experience for PE exam 6

[Power2006]

Hi,
I just passed the EIT (Oct,2005)and I also have a Master degree in electrical engineering.
I know that I have to have 4 years of experience inorder to take the PE exam. some states consider the Master as 1 year of experience. Anyone know a state that gives 2 years of experience for the Master degree or has a less restrictions on the years of experience.
I am trying to take the PE as sooon as I can
thanks for your inputs

 

[stevenal]

California, I think.

 

[itsmoked]

It don't make no never mind if some 'other" state gave you a PE earlier, as a PE is only good for the state it is issued in. (I believe. Not withstanding the couple of states that might have reciprocal agreements.)

 

[supraskate13]

In the state of maine It is required that you not have 4 years of experience but you have 6 years working under a liceneced PE. I would imagine that the same type of regulations are common in all states but I am not sure.

One this is a fact though, The PE that is issued in a certain state is only good in that state. I.E if you are a NEW Jersey Licensed PE, you CAN NOT STAMP drawings that are to be used to construct something in Vermont.

 

[Power2006]

thanks for your response..

I know if I am a PE in one state I can't stamp a design in different state...BUT I don't have to take the PE Exam for the other stat!! I believe I have to fill applications and review codes but not take another exam.
I just want to pass the PE exam in any state
Please correct me if I am wrong
thanks again

 

[JimCook]

I believe Oregon also allows two years experience credit for a Master's degree. Google "OSBEELS" for more info.

A PE license is good only for the state in which it is issued, however, you can be licensed in most states even if not a resident. In fact, you can take the PE exam in another state with the results sent to the state in which you are seeking a license. You can, for example, take the Oregon PE exam in South Carolina because the NCEES exam is the same in both states.

Most states offer comity to a PE licensed in another state provided the PE requirements are similar. However, if one becomes a PE in Oregon with a Master's and two years experience, don't expect to get comity in a state which doesn't allow credit for a Master's for two more years. However, you won't be asked to take the exam again so that might be worth not having to wait two years.

 

[Power2006]

Thanks
JimCook....very helpfull informations

 

[cm47]

I just passed my EIT exam (October 2005) also. Any recommendation on what books are good for study material?

 

[alehman]

My work requires me to hold PE licenses in about 25 states.

I don't know of any states that won't accept an electrical exam from another state. Once you have your primary state license, you can have NCEES maintain a record (for an annual fee) of your personal qualifications which many states will accept as part of the license application. This saves a lot of time in the application process. A few states will not accept NCEES as-is and may require additional information or exams. Short engineering ethics exams are a common requirement for NCEES or reciprocity applicants.

 

[jtkirb]

I agree with alehman. I must also state that there is a reason for the multiyear wait for a P.E. exam...experiance. You may want to get your stamp ASAP, but putting some years under your belt in the real world will make you a better engineer (in most cases). Look back at yourself in 4 years and see how far you have come.

A year of hands on time on the field is worth about 5 years behind a desk, but that is for another thread.

JTK

 

[advidana]

The secret to passing the PE exam is to take two weeks off from work before the exam, to clear your head of job related projects and dead lines. Use this time to study your electrical text book you used in college.

A Electrical PE review class located near you would also be very helpful, hopefully with an instructor that you can discuss the test exam problems with. Check your local colleges for time and dates.

The test is hard and fast, so focus on your studies and speed for solving Electrical problems. This is important, make sure you read the electical exam problems carefully, sometimes they can be some what tricky.

Good Luck

 

[stevenal]

http://www.mass.gov/dpl/boards/en/

 

[TParkhill]

I may be offending someone here, but with over 40 years under my belt, I have to say that...no one should be allowed to be licensed as a PE anywhere until they have at least 5 years of responsible FIELD CONSTRUCTION (hands-on make-build-buy-repair) experience. Too many so called Professional Engineers simply have no concept of the maintenance problems they build into their designs when they have only desk experience. Giving a PhD 2 out of 4 years of credit toward his PE, as my state is considering, just compounds the constructability/maintainability gap.

I am thick skinned. Feel free to disagree with this personal opinion. Tom

 

[Ashereng]

Okay Tom, I'll take you up on your offer. My skin is also thick.

On most projects, I work within a set of criteria:
- budget
- schedule
- availability

The people on my project team are usually:
- jr, int, sr people, lots of disciplines
- client's representative (usuall 1-5, depending on size of project, such as project manager, engineering manager, scheduler, etc)
- other external engineering firm personnel
- procurement, cost manager, etc, team

Operations usually get invited to these types of meetings:
- HAZOP
- operator interface
- sequential logic review

Notice I didn't mention maintenance personnel?

Besides inexperience, I have also found these following reasons, and a few that I am also guilty of, to sometimes cause "maintenance problems to be BUILT INTO designs":
1) ran out of time, so the first workable solution went to the field
2) cost overuns, so reduced capital budget result in cheaper upfront capital cost, but more maintenances/reliability issues down the road
3) client gave instruction to not consider life cycle costs, but just to make sure actual project cost came in under budget approval numbers
4) field installatio details didn't make it to the field, so we field fitted/engineered on our own (that explains a lot of the home run cable routings)
5) checkers and reviewers don't catch these design issues before they were IFC
6) just follow "this design", we did this on the last job so I want you to do exactly the same

You get my drift. There are lots of reasons.

I personally think that inexperienced engineers is a cop out. Most projects are the product of a team. There are WAYYYYYY too many "seniors" with lots of "hands-on field experience" on the project for poor designs due to "inexperience" engineers to leave the office.

Okay, here is my personal opinion Tom, and feel free to rebut. Oh, I am going to regret saying this.

I think there are lots of "40 years field expereience senior people" with bad experiences and practices, and they are propagating/repeating them on projects/jobs.

Hey Tom, no offense. I just thought I'd take the other side of the arguement. ;-)

 

[advidana]

If you are stamping the drawing then you should know what is involved in the construction of the design. Meetings are alway important but the buck stop there when you stamp that job.

All the team is not responible, the person stamping the job is responsible. Field experience is just a single but an important part of the process. All the field experience will not help you write a spec or design a drawing or vice versa.

If people would take the time to document the field problem created by the poor designs then the desk engineers would have a better idea to improve thier designs, but that thats time so in does not happen.

You need a balance which is hard to obtain in todays market.

 

[jtkirb]

I don't agree with Tom 100%, but he has a point. There are so many engineers out there I put in the "hack" pile because they don't know what the hell they are doing. They sign up for an A&E firm right out of school (or fresh PE) and come up with some of the dumbest designs I have ever seen.

Knowing how things work, look like, fit together, etc in the real world will guide you to how to design items that are easy to install, easy to maintain, and easy to operate.

The recent trend of engineering firms putting all the responsibility for finished design on vendors is a sickening trend. Very few medium sized firms out there that are taking responsibility and doing what they are paid to do. Engineering isn't only project management as some would like to assume.

BTW- having a Masters actually HURTS you in my book as far as real world experiance goes. Bigger head, no more knowledge for most common designs.

JTK

 

[Power2006]

JTK,
I am working with senior engineers with 25+ years of experience and they still making mistaks in their designs. I think a great experience comes by learning from mistaks you make through out your career.
Also, I think that passing the PE exam means you have the minimmum "knowledge" which can help you to become a good engineer when you practice engineering and learn from your mistakes.

YOURS,
POWER2006

 

[SJBatTCE]

Back to the original question...

While many states have comity or reciprocity agreements, some do not. Some states also require that if you live in another state and no not already have a license in that state you must show reasonable evidence that you will be doing engineering work in the state you want to take the exam. Generally, when you apply for comity, you will have to provide evidence of your license from another and your portfolio of projects or experience. Most likely, if you obtained your license in a state that only requires two years experience and are trying to immediately get comity in another state that requires four (or more) years supervised experience, you will be denied.

*rant on* As for the rest of the arguments here, I have found that in any profession, there are people who are bad at their job and people who are great at their job; how long they've been doing a crappy job or a great job doesn't seem to matter in many cases. *rant off*

 

[TParkhill]

ASHERENG: Perhaps I did not fully explain why I feel the way I do. I was a Journeyman Electrician for 20 years and got to try to put things together designed by "kids jbarely out of school with PEs" Fun!!!

Now I am a PE with 20 years of field and desk design experience and I have received "Thank yous" from many electricians and contractors because my designs can be built, operated and maintained.

You are lucky (I guess) to have a heavily populated team. I considered myself lucky anytime I could get a checker and double lucky if he/she was not just a clerk-typist looking for dotted Is and crossed Ts.

Nothing you said changed my mind about the need for field training for PEs in constructability and maintainability. Best Regards, Tom

 

[Ashereng]

Tom,

I agree with with your statements whole heartily. I think engineers need all types of expereiences. I was trying to point out that:
- there are good and bad experiences to be had
- people with 40+ years of experience does not confer whether they are good or bad at what they do (they have just done it for a long time)
- a degree does not confer whether they are good or bad at what they do (they have just gone to school)
- in most cases, credit for errors/deficiencies/bad design should be shared amongst more than one person

I am not trying to change anyone's mind. That would be presumptous of me.

I am trying to share my thoughts with everyone. And I thank you for inviting me to share my thoughts with you specifically.

I apologise for making you feel anything other than that I am sharing my personal opinions. That was not my intent.