Professional Engineer 8

[pkpavv]

Dear Members,

I have a general question.I m a graduate Mechanical Engineer. I want to seek license to become Professional Engineer accredited by NCEES ,here, in US.
But I m not sure, how far it is useful to my career and how hard to attain it. could anybody suggest me on this.I wanna plan for my long career. The main thing that giving second thought before applying P.E is I m not in typical Mechanical field. I m in ROV Manufacturing/Operations Industry.
I m still in initial stages of my career (4 Years Exp in which 2 Years as an Engineer). I have the ambition of taking Managerial career(May be Project Management or MBA) down the line in future. Which one is better - seeking P.E or going for MBA???
I greatly appreciate all ur suggestions and your time.

Regds,
Pa1

 

[zdas04]

yes, no, maybe, maybe, no, certainly not, no.

You pick the questions to go with the answers. It is seldom a good idea to ask three unrelated questions in a post. Getting your PE has nothing to do with a NCEES record. Getting either of those has nothing to do with going into management. Getting an MBA has very little to do with going into management.

David

 

[Ashereng]

One suggestion is to look to those in the position you want to attain, and see what they have - whether PE, no PE, MBA, no MBA, etc.

As to how easy it is to achieve a PE, MBA, etc, that depends - how good are you?




"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[KENAT]

If you work in exempt industry then PE will be less significant.

However, having PE may be useful should you ever need to change fields in future.

Why do you think you're not a typical mechanical engineer? Mechanical engineering is a very wide field with people working in all kinds of industries.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[Feric]

Hi there:

I believe that the NSPE site contains answers to your question.

Therefore, check out the NSPE web site at:

http://www.nspe.org

Here is a good link explaining "Why Should You Get Licensed?":

http://www.nspe.org/lc1-why.asp

Good luck!

Thanks,


Gordan

http://engware.i-dentity.com

 

[pkpavv]

My intension in asking about two comepletely different fields in same question is to see responses from those (there might be many who were more experianced to me and)who were in similer dilemma before.
I believe that many people(especially having Engineering degree) would have/had this problem atleast at some point or other in their career.

First of all, I respect that attaining a degree is not for salary but for Knowledge. But ultimately everything would be counted based on either Money u made or Satisfaction you gained in ur career!

But these are my questions, to make it detail.

1.I wanna know, how far a part time MBA helped ur career( Certainly it depends on ones caliber)?

2.How far attaining PE helped ur carrer, May be on promotion/salary wise or changing field altogher?(I agree this also depends on ones caliber)

I request if u r in any of those cases, kindly share ur personal experiances.May be useful to juniors like me.

I appreciate all those responded.

Regds,
Pa1

 

[zdas04]

[I see that you are new in these fora, so let me give you some unsolicited off-topic advice]

Before you start down either road (or both roads), I would first spend some time in learning to speak to engineers as a professional. The colloquial "ur", "u r", etc. seldom receive any positive reinforcement in eng-tips.com and ofter elicit outright hostility.

The posts that get the most useful feedback are formatted for easy reading (you do that pretty well), ask clear questions, have been spell checked, and indicate that the author has made an attempt to answer the question on their own.

David

 

[Ashereng]

Okay, I'll try again.

Having a PE or MBA, and how it affects your career depends on what you want to do with your career, and what you define success to be. Many people, in engineering and business, achieve their suceess without one, the other or both.

Like I suggested earlier, maybe talk to people who have achieved what you want to achieve, and ask them how they got there, and what they felt helped/didn't help.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[geekEE]

Well, I've gone both the PE and MBA route and it really depends on what you want to do as far as how useful they are. If your industry requires it or if you plan on doing consulting, the PE is going to be helpful. If you plan on going into management, the MBA would be helpful.

I got my MBA and worked in management for several years before deciding that I really preferred getting my hands dirty and that I wasn't getting enough of that. So now, my MBA is not being used, although I learned some skills through that exercise that are still useful.

I had my PE for quite a few years before using it for anything. However, I'm glad that I got that license early on.

I'd say if you decide that you really want/need both, you should do the PE first. There's really not much of an outlay of money or time and it's much easier to pass the required tests if you do them before too much time has passed since you left school.

I'd say an MBA is probably more useful after you've had real-world experience as an engineer. Most companies want a seasoned engineer for engineering management, not an MBA with little real-world experience.

Of course, as in all things, your mileage may vary.
Good luck.

 

[sms]

In my 23 year career I think I have used my stamp four or five times, and mostly for reference letters for others pursuing a PE, but I think it was an excellent investment. It cost me very little to gain all things considered, and on my resume it has been an excellent marketing tool. HR people like to see it.

"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?" Oddball, "Kelly's Heros" 1970

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of the Eng-Tips Forums.

 

[monkeydog]

I have to agree with sms, the I took the EIT last semester of school to place on my resume'. Got a job in the aerospace industry where out of hundreds of engineers in the company only a handful have a PE license (it is not needed in the aeospace industry), and nearly all you ask tell you it is not worth doing. My mistake was listening to them.

Fast forward 20 years when I decided I needed to spruce up my resume' and put the PE license in there. I wish I took the test when the material was fresher in my head!

I passed the test, put the "P.E." thing after my name in e-mails now, and coincidently, I no longer spend as much time convincing people on my technical position, and raises have been better. I do not own a stamp, nor do I plan on owning a stamp.

 

[csd72]

mkp520,

Do you want to be an engineer or do you want to be a manager? If the answer is engineer then I would suggest the PE and then a project management course. In my opinion an MBA is for people who are ready to start managing companies (or large departments of big companies) and should only be done when you are ready to go for that type of role.

I did my Australian CPEng (Chartered Professional Engineer) even though it is not a legal requirement, and I think it was worth it just to have some recognition of my status as a senior engineer (it also helps when going for jobs).

csd

 

[plasgears]

When I was working in Aero, the top plant mgr (GE Jet Engine Div) strongly recommended that engineers go for the PE. About 200 engrs opted for the in-plant refresher courses. For me it was a life changing experience. The refreshers were run by PE's.

The state PE exam was bought down from Columbus, OH to Cincinnati, and it was held in a large auditorium. I took both the EIT and prof engr exam back to back. I passed, but one MME I knew failed.

This coincided with the downturn in business at the end of the VN war, and mgt no doubt used it to rate engineers for the inevitable staff reductions. I survived the first cut.

 

[KENAT]

The more I think about it then assuming it shouldn't take you too much time/money I'd go for the PE.

I want to get mine even though I've always worked exempt. Sadly being from abroad and a few other factors are making it more difficult.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[Eleceng01]

mkp520,

As others before me, I would recommend getting your PE. It has helped me in job interviews and now as a consultant, it gives the non-technical client's (i.e. business majors or others with MBA) 'the warm fuzzy" they need to hire our firm.

I also have a client that told me recently that when his company was bought, he was the only electrical engineer in his division to keep his job because he was the only PE in it. Seems to have helped him in that case.

It really all is up to what you want out of your career. Stick with engineering a while before you think of management, you might find out that you like it better than being a manager or Project manager.

One thing to think about though, we have senior engineers here who are well over sixty-years old, but we dont have any project managers (PM) that age. PMs can be replaced by new grads, exerienced engineers cant! Thanks to all of you senior engineers!!