The vast majority of PE candidates are within the first 10 years of their career when they pursue professional licensure. My personal experience puts me in this majority, having obtained my PE license in 2014, 6 years after completing my undergraduate engineering degree. However, there is a smaller cohort of PE candidates that have been in their careers for a decade or more and are only now seeking to obtain their PE. Having served as a guide to both groups, I’d like to share the following success factors that are unique to more experienced engineers.
Respect the limits of practical experience.
NCEES expects qualified Professional Engineers to have a sufficient level of practical experience and technical knowledge. The experience portion is documented in the written portion of your application and further supported by your references. The technical knowledge is determined by your performance on the PE exam.
Part of what has made you successful thus far in your career is a combination of technical and non-technical skills. For most engineers that have been working for over 10 years, their contribution to their employer is largely the outcome of many soft skills they developed over time such as working within teams, delegating to others, managing projects, and communicating effectively with clients. And while these skills are important and highly valued, they won’t help at all with the PE exam.
Get a fresh start.
With each passing year, we don’t feel any different from how we did the year before. But after a decade or more, we have to acknowledge some changes. We don’t recover the same from workouts and we don’t have the same endurance as in our twenties. If this reduction in speed and stamina is clearly apparent in our bodies, we can’t expect our brains to have been preserved in a youthful state.
This is not meant to be an excuse or a pity party, and we’re not talking about a dramatic reduction in capabilities. The point is to acknowledge that we are not the same learners that we were in college. So rather than expecting yourself to remember something that you were barely alert for on a random Tuesday at 8:00am with a professor who was difficult to understand about a topic that wouldn’t have been easy to absorb even with the world’s best instructor, give yourself a pass. Start over.
If your working memory isn’t what it used to be, use repetition to reinforce each step in a solution. If you struggle to connect the dots like you once did, take extra time to solve practice problems. If you can’t think clearly after an hour, keep your sessions shorter and do two per day to protect the quality. If you haven’t studied for anything in over a decade, you are rebuilding an atrophied muscle. Only humility and patience will enable you to rebuild your foundation and then go beyond your previous abilities.
Give yourself enough time.
I recommend all aspiring PE candidates allow for 4-6 months of serious study for the PE Exam. Engineers who have been working for 10+ years usually accept this suggestion readily and with good results. Younger engineers sometimes have the hubris to compress the schedule, and a few get away with it, but they are the exceptions.
In general, it comes with maturity that the older cohort recognizes schedule risk. Many have families and need to allow flexibility in their daily schedule. Others have frequent business travel which disrupts study momentum and often causes more than a day-for-day delay. It takes time to ramp up at the beginning and it is prudent to reserve some contingency at the end.
It is rare that getting the PE suddenly becomes an urgent priority for this group as it has been unfeasible or difficult to take on the challenge for several years. So now that you are starting, there is no reason to rush. Perhaps an equal risk would be a schedule that is too open-ended, in which case it may be helpful to register for your exam date after completing the first 1-2 months of study to drive progress and accountability.
Leverage your career capital to request schedule flexibility.
Since you have been working for over a decade, you have less to prove on a day-to-day basis than engineers at the beginning of their career. You likely have strong relationships with peers as well as management, and a personal brand of credibility and conscientiousness. Therefore, it is completely reasonable to ask for some flexibility over the course of your study period relating to your schedule. This could mean starting a bit late, finishing early, taking an extended lunch, or any other arrangement that would suit your preferences and personality.
When I was 28 years old, I preferred sleeping in and studying at night. Now that I’m 38 and a father, I do my best thinking in the morning. What works best for you? Don’t be shy about asking for what you need. The worst that can happen is the answer is ‘no,’ and if your employer is not willing to work with you, that is definitely something you want to find out sooner than later, especially as you are in the process of enhancing your career. That said, be prepared to negotiate and offer something in return if it would be helpful. For instance, if other team members are going to have to carry your workload or run meetings for you, you could return the favor after you have passed the exam.
If you work from home for part of the week, this is a perfect opportunity to take advantage of your flexibility. But it’s still a good idea to set clear expectations with your team and manager about your study blocks so that you won’t be worried about managing your reputation and you can truly focus on the material and make progress during the time periods you set out to study.
Use a reliable study program.
I have written in the past about PE Exam Prep strategies for different budgets, and experienced engineers will generally fall into Level 3 “Assisted and Accelerated.” In short, candidates in this cohort have the resources to invest in a program that is going to make their study process more efficient and give them greater certainty of success, so they proceed without hesitation. They understand that time is at a premium and the sooner they obtain their professional engineering license, the sooner they can reap the rewards that come with the credential. A good program is an investment that provides a return. Spending precious time trying to figure out how to study rather than actually starting is unacceptable to successful and busy professionals, and there is nothing to gain by making an already challenging process harder than it needs to be.
Know your reasons why professional licensure is important.
Being clear with yourself and others about why you want to become a Professional Engineer is important to all aspiring PE’s, but it is especially critical for engineers that have delayed their pursuit for a decade or more. It would be easy to let another year or five years or ten years go by and still be thinking in the back of your mind, maybe someday I’ll go for my PE… Sadly, too often someday never comes, so why is getting licensed a priority for you now? What would it mean for your career in 5 years? What would the impact be of not going for it? Aside from your career, what would it mean for you personally to achieve the goal? What would it signal to your colleagues, clients, and most importantly to yourself that you were able to do the work and get across the finish line?
For younger engineers, the answer may be simply that the PE opens doors, or that it will get harder if they wait. But for experienced engineers, the answer is sometimes more nuanced. There may be one version of your future that you can envision if you get your PE and another if you don’t. Which is more compelling and why? Having clear answers to these questions is extremely useful when studying gets tough and competing priorities threaten your study time.
Conclusion
Everyone’s PE journey is different. Too many experienced engineers I have worked with beat themselves up about waiting too long and have genuine fears about their ability to successfully pass the exam being so far removed from academics. There are few feelings worse than wondering if it’s too late for something you truly want. Rather than ruminating on what you would/should/could have gotten done in the past, it is better to set your sights on the future you wish to create. It is my belief that the success factors described here will aid you in that effort.
If you found this article helpful, I’d be honored to support you on your journey toward professional licensure. To learn more about the process and our programs, contact Dan@mechancialPEexamprep.com.