Using "P.E." suffix overseas - worthless and confusing, or valuable? 1

[HiPSI]

I'm a licensed P.E. in Connecticut, but I have currently relocated to Australia where I am looking for work. While I am certainly making note of my P.E. license on my resume, I am debating whether or not I should use the P.E. suffix after my name in the title of my resume and when corresponding with employers and recruiters.

Does anyone have any experience regarding the international recognition of a United States "P.E." (i.e., whether or not people in remote countries know what being a P.E. entails)? I understand it technically means nothing in Australia, but my previous employer encouraged me to make note of it frequently; even though I rarely ever needed the license itself, note of having a stamp most times evoked an immediate grant of respect.

I do plan on working towards being a CPeng in Australia eventually, but it's a long process. For the time being I'm just looking for every bit of help I can get in getting my foot into the Australian engineering market.

 

[FreddyNurk]

It depends. Do you reside in Queensland?

There is an international register, though I've not actually looked as to whether it encompasses US registration (licence). Certainly there is an arrangement between Australia, New Zealand, the UK plus others (IntPE) that may be relevant.

Queensland has legislation that states that all Professional Engineering work must be carried out either by a person registered in Queensland, or supervised by a person that has that registration. Whilst there is no restriction in calling yourself an engineer, there certainly is a restriction in carrying out professional work without registration.

If you're not in Queensland though, you can happily ignore that restriction for the moment.

 

[zdas04]

I've been working in Australia quite a bit this year and at least 1/4 of the Engineers I work with are from the U.S. and Canada. They all recognize the P.E. I've had Ausies ask "is that like the Brit Chartered Engineer?". I think adding it either help identify you or (at the least) opens a dialog.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.
The plural of anecdote is not "data"

 

[MacGyverS2000]

I don't know the reciprocity rules, but it certainly can't hurt to include it. The question will inevitably come up as to where your allowed to practice, and if it's a simple(?) matter of qualifying in another area, that's a lot easier than starting with someone who doesn't have those letters.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[IRstuff]

BUT, you should be careful about that. In the US, putting your PE on your business card is an offer to "practice engineering," may be technically illegal to do in a state where you do not have a license. Presumably, you can add a footnote as to where you are licensed on the card.

TTFN
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[zdas04]

I recently had a client ask me if someone with a Wyoming P.E. could stamp an SPCC plan in New Mexico (SPCC is an EPA program, not a state one). I said I'd check and called the board. The board said that there was no state regulation on SPCC so any P.E. could stamp it regardless of whether they were licensed in New Mexico or not. This seems to be different from the answers they have given on this topic in the past, but I can't find my notes from last time. Regardless, it seems like there are cases where you can do Engineering that requires a license in places where you are not licensed. Federal requirements seem to really muddy the water.

As to business cards, I've seen a bunch of cards handed out in the U.S. that said "CEng" for "Chartered Engineer" from Canada and the U.K. and no one seems bothered by that. I see a bunch of people in Queensland that are not yet registered under the new program that have "Engineer" on their cards.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.
The plural of anecdote is not "data"

 

[IRstuff]

I think that there's two factors involved in the CE question
> CE is unique to Canada and UK, so it's different than putting a PE behind your name
> It's unclear whether most people would expend the energy to rat on someone because of their business card. But, technically...

TTFN
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[GregLocock]

Queensland is pretty much the Wild West on drugs, without so many guns, so I don't think the presence or absence of two letters on a business card is going to upset anyone.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

 

[FreddyNurk]

As I mentioned previously, theres no penalty in calling yourself an engineer (I'm assuming that this is unlike some US areas where it is a problem). As zdas04 has alluded to, most Aussies are used to seeing CPEng (or sometimes CEng) rather than PE.

I don't see any issue with including it on your resume, though for the reasons I mentioned above its not likely to mean as much on a business card.

http://www.ieagreements.com/APEC/signatories.cfm

has some of the details on appropriate registration, which may or may not be easier than getting CPEng from scratch.

As for BPEQ / RPEQ, the assessment is usually carried out by Engineers Australia on behalf of the Board of Professional Engineers, Queensland, so effectively getting CPEng will allow you to get RPEQ.