Posted: 9/26/2014 8:54:28 PM EDT
I was talking to a friend a few days back and I asked him about how his son is doing in college. The son is going to Oklahoma University to become a mech engineer. Now the part I don't understand, my friend said his son will graduate this December and then he has to sit for a six hour exam. He said to become a certified Mech engineer a person had to take the test, but it wasn't necessary to pass the test. Now I am wondering if there wasn't something scrambled in the communications, and maybe my friend misheard or got some of the details wrong. I find it hard to believe that all you must do is take the test, but not pass it. Lawyers have to sit for the Bar exam and they must pass it. So, can anyone fill in a few blank spots about this test? |
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An engineering degree can get you a good job designing things, but if you need to certify drawings (ie: stamp them and take professional responsibility) or be a Principle engineer, you need to go the extra steps of passing the FE and PE.
Yes, I have my PE in Mechanical. Unless they have changed, both tests are 8 hours. The FE is basically a rehash of your 4 years of college and the PE is a test where you bring any reference material you need, try to recall your college classes and cry in the fetal position the night after the test. |
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At the college where I workm taking the FE exam is a graduation requirement. But passing it is not.
That said, taking and passing it ASAP after your Bachelor's work is the smart way to go, IMHO. The exam covers a wide range of topics, many of which you will only be more removed from the longer you wait. |
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Quoted: An engineering degree can get you a good job designing things, but if you need to certify drawings (ie: stamp them and take professional responsibility) or be a Principle engineer, you need to go the extra steps of passing the FE and PE. Yes, I have my PE in Mechanical. Unless they have changed, both tests are 8 hours. The FE is basically a rehash of your 4 years of college and the PE is a test where you bring any reference material you need, try to recall your college classes and cry in the fetal position the night after the test. |
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It's most certainly not worthless except for HVAC. It's not nearly as commonly for ME's as it is for civil because of public work (bridges and shit). Honestly a six sigma green belt is more of a resume gem and salary booster than a PE, but it won't hurt to get one. Usually a job will have a PE as a requirement, or you don't really need one. It's not too often you get a pay bump for having one as a mechanical. Plus whatever you sign off on as a PE follows you for life not just while you're at that company. Different states have different rules but when I graduated my prof told me that if you wanted to start a company with "engineering" in the title you had to have a PE. And it helped a lot for consulting work and if you wanted to testify as an expert witness, which can pay well. The law only recognizes PE's as "engineers". Civil guys who got jobs for the DOT had to have them. My FE exam was 8 hours, glad I passed my first try. Then you need 4 years of work experience and you can take the PE exam which is also 8 hours.
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| FE exam, used to be called EIT..engineer in training exam. Take it upon graduation, work for a while then take the PE. Outside of very specific fields, not much need for certification, but might be useful. Best to do it while reasonably fresh...wait too long and it's a pain to study up enough to take the PE. |
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The FE is only important for certain fields within ME. It is much more important for civils. You have to be on the verge of graduation or be graduated from an ABET accredited institution to sit for the exam.
In general, PE's are necessary for things like certified government work (HVAC, nuclear, etc.) and code-related work (pressure vessel/boiler design, etc.). |
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Quoted:
The FE is only important for certain fields within ME. It is much more important for civils. You have to be on the verge of graduation or be graduated from an ABET accredited institution to sit for the exam. In general, PE's are necessary for things like certified government work (HVAC, nuclear, etc.) and code-related work (pressure vessel/boiler design, etc.). All my Aero professors said skip it A couple of my mech professors recommended it. I chose a hotel in Tahoe while a couple of my friends really crammed and took it |