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civil eng license 2

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VH88

Aerospace
Feb 20, 2020
9
Hi,
I have been an Aerospace Engineer specialize in aero structures for 7 years, now if I go back to school to earn a Bachelor in Civil Engineering, will I be able to legally pull permit from city? I live in Wichita, Kansas. I talked to an operator from my county and she said I need an engineering stamp on my permit form. Does anyone know what she talks about? She also had no idea how to obtain that stamp too.
 
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You need to have professional engineer sign off and stamp your plans. A degree is not enough; you need the license, which typically requires a several years of essentially apprenticeship before you sit for an exam which you must pass to get the license.

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I don't know how aerospace engineers get a licence but to be a civil engineer in North America you need to get a state or provincial license from the state or province you want to work in, you can also get licensed in multiple states but the annual fees would increase.

Kansas engineering association
 
There is no aerospace engineering license in the US, and most US aerospace engineers are exempted from licensure because they don't offer engineering services to the public

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I get looks all of the time as a Metallurgist with a P.E. Not many of us.

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P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed
 
Contact the Kansas board that regulates PE licenses. They will spell out exactly what you need.
 
Usually licensing through exam after 4 years graduation from an accredit college/university, and registered as EIT (engineer in training). You can take the EIT exam at the last year of college.
 
Just be warned - if you make the switch you'll be in for a culture shock. Going from highly detailed analysis and design with advanced materials with rationally low safety factors and extensive prototyping and testing to a world where "we've been doing it that way for decades" is a common refrain, the use of roughly appropriate "typical" details is a frequent practice, and the safety factors are huge can be tough. I've known of a couple guys who tried and couldn't make it - they tried to design down to the shear in the bolt threads and blew the budget on every project they touched.
 
VH88...you are in Kansas and will have to follow the requirements of your state board of engineers. Call the board and ask them for their particular requirements.

 
An engineering stamp is provided by a professional engineer or architect.

The easiest path to a professional license would be to obtain a masters degree in civil engineering rather than a BS since you already have an engineering degree.

A masters degree will allow you to apply for a license.

The commercial airplane business has extremely rigorous control over airplane structures and systems from fabrication and assembly through inspection and maintenance. The environmental effects and maximum loads airplanes experience are also well understood. Extensive fatigue and static testing is conducted on components and systems. Therefore, relatively low factors of safety are applied (around 1.3) even though safety is at stake.

The lack of rigorous control over the means and methods used in building construction is the reason for a higher safety factor, not the knowledge or work of civil engineering design professionals.

 
If your undergraduate degree is obtained from college/university in the US, the above path works. But for foreign BS degree, even you have obtain PH.D, some state will tell you to wait a longer period. Check state professional registration and licensing board for specific requirement.
 
bimr - not sure if you took offense to what I said there, but I certainly never meant to imply that we (as I am a civil/structural engineering design professional) don't know what we're doing. As I said - aircraft design goes through "extensive prototyping and testing" - so it sounds like we agree on the reason for what I called "rationally low safety factors". You did do a better job explaining the higher safety factors in construction than I did, and I can see how my description of the mentality and practices of many in the construction industry could have been mistaken for a reason for higher factors of safety in our realm.
 
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