Not sure about the U.S., but the Canadian engineering regulators are established to purportedly protect the interests of the public, not the engineers.
Some jurisdictions have formed advocacy groups for engineers (e.g. Ontario has OSPE).
I doubt I would find a state of bliss from the practice of engineering, enjoyment a lot of times, but not bliss. Maybe not yet.
The reason I ask is that I find that in my state, Illinois, an architect can stamp whatever they want if they are willing to take the risk. Many are. There are also a lot of "exemptions", a lot of people here seem to play engineer.
Im gearing up to take the PE and start offering engineering services next year. I currently work as a contractor, and I've worked in a consulting engineering firm in the past.
I'm unmarried and unattached and looking to possibly leave Chit-cago area.
DON'T GET ME STARTED ON ILLINOIS... I live 20 miles west over in Missouri. I can set here and design simple wood, steel or concrete structures ALL day long. GO 20 miles east and I am SOL. I need an Illinois SE to do that. YET some architect (some are sharp - some are not) can sign off on just about ANYTHING. Seems that the laws of physics and engineering suddenly change when you cross the Mississippi River!!??
I think the Architects "own" that state. Not sure why - they just do. I am registered in many states and have never run into anything so cumbersome.
At least CA (and some others) requires the SE license for multi-story (I think 4 or greater) and schools, hospitals, fire houses, etc. That actually makes sense.
I would suggest you might take the SE-1 part. Then if you ever wanted to get the SE license - you will be half way. They are changing that - so double check on what they are doing.. Good luck.
Glad I'm not just imagining things about my state. Be glad you're on the south side and not in the Kingdom of Chit-cago. It gets progressively worse.
I found this on-line as an example of what I'm talking about/looking for:
The following statement regarding home inspection and building inspection was issued by the New York State Board for Engineering and Land Surveying:
It is the opinion of The Board that the inspection and examination of single or multiple family residential, commercial, industrial, or institutional buildings regarding their structural, electrical and mechanical subsystems for proper integrity or capacity constitutes the practice of engineering as defined by the "law." Any attempt to determine the structural integrity, capacity of a building, or any subsystem thereof, other than the detection of problems by visual inspection or normal operation of the user’s controls, constitutes the practice of engineering. This would include the diagnosis and analysis of problems with buildings and/or the design of remedial actions.
Therefore, an individual who advertises or practices in this area shall be a registered professional engineer in the State of New York
