Congratulations Jman. That is a terrific accomplishment. Woot!
Congrats!
I talk to quite a bit of engineers daily and…well…they can be …uh…dry.
Don’t be dry.
Well done!
If it’s not too much trouble, though, could you explain what you had to do for this credential?
Congrats. Much props to you… I started out college as a wannabe EE, hopeful PE one day. It only took a couple of analog courses to switch over to Computer Science (still in college of Engineering at my alma mater). It’s a major accomplishment and you should be proud!
Thanks. It can vary somewhat by state, but the majority of them are very similar. This is what is required in Ohio. (now that I have it in Ohio, in most cases, I can become registered in another state by Comity, where I send them a bunch of info and my Ohio registration, and they license me there as well, for a few hundred bucks).
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Earn a bachelor’s degree in engineering. In my case, a BS in Electrical Engineering (Cornell). In some states, they have waivers for the education requirement if you have a LOT of experience, such as 12-20 years, but this is not common.
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Pass the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam, administrated by NCEES (National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying). This is an 8 hour exam with 180 questions (120 in the morning, 60 in the afternoon) that covers basically an entire undergraduate engineering degree. Calculus, physics, economics, ethics, small bits of most any engineering discipline (even those not in your specialty), thermodynamics, statics, etc. It’s a 4 hour morning general session which covers all of the above, followed by a 4 hour afternoon session that you choose, either General again, where more in depth questions on a huge variety of engineering topics is covered, or discipline specific to your degree. It is a closed book exam, and they provide you with one reference: The approved FE reference which has notes and equations for each topic) If you pass, great, if not, you can take it again in 6 months. About 75-80% of takers pass this exam the first time. Repeat takers generally pass about 35-40% of the time. After you have a degree and pass the FE, you have a somewhat meaningless credential of “Engineer Intern” or “Engineer in Training” depending on the state.
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Complete 4 years of engineering job experience under the supervision of a Professional Engineer. This can vary somewhat by state, but most states (Ohio included) require 4 years. This experience is post-degree experience. Internships usually don’t count, but there are some rules in some states that may allow a portion of a college internship to go towards the experience requirement.
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Pass the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) exam, administered by NCEES. This is another 8 hour examination, specific to your discipline with 80 questions, 40 in each session. Again broken into two four hour sessions on the same day. The structure varies a little by discipline…some have a different afternoon session that is more focused. For instance, I took the Electrical and Computer - Power exam. In EE, there’s Power, Computer Engineering and Electrical and Electronics. This is a 100% open book examination, and you can bring as many references as you want. Should give you an idea of the breadth they usually want on the exam.
About 65% of people pass the first time on the PE, and repeat takers usually have a much lower pass rate - around 30%. Pass rates vary by discipline. Electrical PE exam pass rates were 61% last year for first time takers and 27% for repeat takers.
After you complete all four steps, you send in your registration fee and you are a licensed Professional Engineer.
If you want to see the breadth of topics covered for the two exams, you can see the topic breakdown at the following links:
FE Exam: http://www.ncees.org/Documents/Public/FE%20Other%20Apr%202010.pdf
PE (Electrical): http://www.ncees.org/Documents/Public/Exam%20specifications/PE%20Ele%20POW%20Apr%202009.pdf
Wow. I reiterate my previous well done.
Those exams do seem pretty broad, I’m a little glad I don’t have to go through all that in Ontario :). I’d have to breakout some of my first and second year textbooks and review some areas that I haven’t studied at all since.
All it took to get my EIT was having my university send in my transcript. I still have obtain 4 years of experience under an engineer, and pass the Professional Practice Examination (PPE) to get my P.Eng.
Quoting Professional Engineers Ontario (http://www.peo.on.ca/) “The Professional Practice Examination (PPE), is a three-hour, closed-book exam on ethics, professional practice, engineering law and liability.” I’ve seen quotes of the pass rate on the exam in the high 70s to low 80s so I’m not too worried.
Congratulations!!
I always felt a bit sorry for EEs, and ChemEs taking the FE exam, because it was so broad. It seemed to me like it was geared much more toward General and Mechanical Engineers. So, kudos to you for covering all that ground.
My boss’s advice to me when I got my P.E. (Mechanical) was to take my stamp and bury it in the deepest darkest part of my desk, and never pull it out again. 
We always had much more senior engineers than I who could stamp anything that needed stamping, and I got out of the business before I became that senior engineer.
Again, congratulations! Well done!