Is Professional Engineer License Worth It? (Mechanical)

At some point as an engineer, you may ask – Is a Professional Engineer license worth it? This may be when you’re a student, beginning, or even in the middle of your career. It’s never too late to work on improving yourself, right? No! You shouldn’t be focused on improving yourself if it leads to no results. Often times, students work towards their EIT, but if it doesn’t yield any results, is it really worth it?

Let’s do a dive-in analysis on the question of is a professional Engineer License Worth It?

February 29, 2024 by Kazu Fujimoto

What Is A Professional Engineering License?

A professional engineering license allows you to review and stamp drawings or engineering plans pertaining to the public. States have requirements regarding projects that affect citizens such as infrastructure projects.

How Do You Get A Professional Engineering License?

The official road map from the board looks like this for California (Note rules vary across States)

If you’re a student and you stumble on this, you should take the EIT exam while you’re in school. The knowledge is still fresh in your head and it will be the easiest time to take it. As you start working in the industry, you will forget most of what you learn in school. Remember basic math such as derivatives and integrals, free-body diagrams, and how to use engineering equations.

Pros of Having Your Professional Engineering License:

If you’re an engineer, and you have a professional engineering license, good for you. You have opened up many doors for yourself regarding career paths. Your professional engineering license will check off “boxes” in job applications. A professional engineering license will make you more money.

Salary

According to Glassdoor, the average salary of Professional Engineers is $88,834 as of January 21, 2022.

From a realistic standpoint, you should be expecting to earn much more. Especially if you live in a high cost of living area such as California.

Respect

As a Professional Engineer, you get to review, sign, seal, and stamp designs. This is a HUGE responsibility and should not be taken lightly. The lives of others are literally at your fingertips when you sign off a design. You are the industry renowned expert, providing your services, whether its to your employer or your own client.

Cons Of Having Your Professional Engineering License:

There are no cons to having your professional engineering license. The only con would be the upfront work that you had to put to get licensed.

Studying

Be prepared to study for a few months. You will very likely be working a full-time job as an engineer, while studying for the exam in your spare time. This is very tiring and you might even feel burnt out at times.

Misc. Costs

You will incur on miscellaneous costs such as textbook and exam fees. Also note, that for the state of California, renewal of licensure costs $180.

Textbook

The textbook I used for the exam was the Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual by Lindeburg, which is a highly recommended book. The only caveat is that the textbook is pricey. It’s a good investment for your future though, because the textbook is useful outside of the exam.

Exam

The PE Exam for Mechanical Engineers costs $375 in California. You should expect a similar cost of the exam across all disciplines and states.

Application Fees

Conclusion

Is a professional engineer license worth it?

To answerr that question, let’s pretend that:

The job market is tough, and because of that, engineering jobs are hard to come by. You’ve recently been laid off by your previous employer and have been out of work for months. After months of applying to new jobs, an opportunity finally comes up for you to interview. You use my resume and my interview template to get yourself ready. However, your competition does the same thing! Now, on paper, both you and your competition look the same. Because of all of the hard work you’ve done over your career, you made sure to become a license Professional Engineer. If everything was the same on paper and you had a professional engineering license over the other person, there’s no doubt the interviewer would choose you.

Although the scenario sounds crazy, it is very possible. The economy has its ups and downs, so as a result, jobs are not always readily available.

Along with the usage of the Professional Engineering license for jobs, it is also a very nice to have. The license showcases your work and establishes respect. It’s a great way to show your employers what you are capable of and for you to tackle on more responsibility.

@ultmeche

Is getting a Professional Engineering license worth it? #professional #engineer #pe #license

♬ original sound – Engineering Career Coach