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FE Exam - Should I Take It?

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stkyle

stkyle

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May 27, 2011
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I should note that I don't intend to stay in my current state after graduation. And that I intend on going into Flight Test Engineering.

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This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
 
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Take it. It will never hurt you. It will be easiest to take it now when you are at this level of education. You think that you will never need it, but trust me, plans change.

What do you have to loose? One 8 hr day? What else are you going to do that day which will have any influence on the rest of your life? Watch movies? Play video games?
 
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You never know where your career will take you. I didnt not take mine right after school... but needed to take it for a job I had. It is alot easier right out of school.

Right now I dont NEED my PE... but I am sitting for the exam because I can (the main reason) and my boss will give me a pay some raise because my company pays good money to have a PE firm do simple stuff that I do everyday anyway but some customers/municipalities require a PE stamp.

Good luck.

 
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Take it. Get the sample tests and practice manuals, work thru a bunch of sample problems; its not that hard when stuff is relatively fresh.

You might want to be an independent consultant someday like some of us other crazy types, and you will need a PE in order to have a consulting business; even if no one in the entire aerospace industry cares one hoot about a PE, the state license boards can be picky and shut you down.

Trust me from personally experience, you do not want to have to relearn a bunch of forgotten, unused topics at age 40 just to be able to pass a silly test.

 
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Doesn't it depend on which state you take it in, like the BAR? As I said, I won't be in the same state after I graduate.

Watch movies? Play video games?
Click to expand...

Five senior level engineering courses... I wish I could watch movies or play games :(

The story so far:
In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
 
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As someone from an aerospace background (now in 'machine designn') I agree that PE probably wont be necessary or even particularly useful if you stay in the field.

However, it may be worth taking the FE at this time, if nothing else you don't know what the future holds, you've already paid for it and really, 8 hrs isn't that much time to devote to it - just skip watching the next 2 Super Bowls or something;-).

Posting guidelines faq731-376 (probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​
 
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I took the FE in Wisconsin and the PE in Illinois. All I had to do is pay Wi $5.00 to mail me a certified letter stating that I had passed the FE on this date in this location. I included this with my application and it was accepted. The state of Illinois instructed me to do this.

So based on my experience, it does not matter. However all states are different. But, I know that Illinois has some of the most restrictive requirements.
 
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Take it... you will kick yourself in the face if you don't and later decide that you want to.

-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Pretty good with SolidWorks
 
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Alrighty, guess I'll bite the bullet, thanks guys.

The story so far:
In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
 
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It does not matter what state you take the FE exam in. It does matter somewhat the state that you take the PE exam in. But that's 4+ years down the road before you need to worry about it.
 
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Now that you have decided to take it here are some tips. don't study too much for it. Just brush up on some subjects that you haven't visited in a year or so. For me it was thermo. Get familiar with the formula book that NCEES provides because you will get a new one on the test day (at least that is how it was back in ought-one)... and that is the only reference you can have. For more info on FE test prep go to
-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Pretty good with SolidWorks
 
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Here is another tip. When I was reviewing/studying for the exam, I got together with some other students who were studying different subjects within my major (as a structural I got together with some enviromental). There are a number of questions that are as easy as picking an answer out of a table. Nothing else to it. So, I showed the "easy" structural questions and they showed me the "easy" enviro questions. And I do have to say, I probably got an extra 5 questions correct because of this.
 
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stkyle,
Your Senior year or immediately thereafter is the best time to take the F.E. And you have nothing to loose (since your grade is only predicated on signing up) but potentially much to gain if you pass.

 
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I know personally of at least a couple guys whose college didn't emphasize the EIT, so they didn't take the exam. When they got out and tried to take it, they failed multiple times. There's a whole infrastructure assembled to help you take the test when you're a senior in college. This all goes away when you're in the real world. Plus you have to deal with a built in time lag (you get a job, move somewhere, then you have to apply, wait to have the exam, etc.) which ends up taking a couple of years, making the memories of all that academic stuff fade away.
You'll never know that college crapola any better than the day you get out.
 
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As a flight test engineer, I would recommend taking it.

While a PE license is not needed for my 9-to-5 job, I do engineering consulting on the side for extra money, which is a nice bonus. And it
 
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I can't think of a reason to NOT take the FE.

As many have said, you never know where life will take you or what may happen in industry.
 
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It's easy.

It doesn't hurt.

Take it.

Future life lesson: you can never have too many letters after your name on your business card.

Hydrology, Drainage Analysis, Flood Studies, and Complex Stormwater Litigation for Atlanta and the South East -
 
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