PE Environmental in California 3

[june1803]

Hello
I have my undergraduate degree in civil engineering, and my masters in environmental. I have been working in the environmental field for the past 5 years and feel comfortable giving the PE Environmental exam. However,California does not have a PE Environmental exam, while a lot of other states do.
If I obtain my Environmental exam in any other state, will California recognise it? Will it make any difference?
Thanks

 

[francesca]

The PE exam is the same in all the states, so as a general rule, the states recognize a pass regardless of the state it was taken in. You have to check with the California board, however. They may have a reason for not offering the Environmental PE exam and may not accept it.

 

[SlideRuleEra]

Don't be too concerned with the names of the exams. Look here (California's Web Site) and see if what you are interested in is considered "Civil Engineering"

http://www.dca.ca.gov/pels/e_plppe.pdf

See Section 4, Question 3, on pages 42 & 43 of 55.

If it does, then you should be able to take the national "PE Civil" exam

http://www.ncees.org/exams/professional/pe_civil_exams.php

...with the afternoon "Civil/Environmental Depth Exam"

http://www.ncees.org/exams/professional/pe_civil_environmental_exam_specs.pdf

You should be able to take this in virtually any state, including California

http://www.ncees.org/licensure/licensing_requirements_2005/survey_e.pdf#24

See page 18 of 55

http://www.SlideRuleEra.net

 

[nutbutter]

Why don't you take the environmental portion of the Civil PE exam? The morning session is pretty basic and not too difficult. If you know your ENV stuff, which it sounds like you do, the afternoon shouldn't be too bad either.

I think that's your best bet. All 50 states recognize the Civil PE exam, however, I'm not sure the same can be said about the Environmental PE.

I could be wrong.

Peace,
Stoddardvilla

 

[runoff]

I think there are only four states that do not have the Environmental PE and they are Alaska, Hawaii, California and New Jersey. The reason behind that is totally political. California and New Jersey have environmental health professionals that are recognized through a state certification program and have lobbied to not recognize the environmental engineering PE. Go figure??? Anyway, I took both and passed both but took the environmental PE first. I agree with some of the previous posts. Get the Civil PE it is more recognized and in the other states they are not picky on what type you are but rather that you are an Engineer.

I think the American Academy of Environmental Engineers is working to have that changed by the way but I do not know how soon it will transpire.

Runoff

 

[tajiboy]

Question for runoff. First thanks for the information it was good insite. Question, which would you recommend for someone who has been in management most of their engineering career? PE Environmental or PE Civil/Environmental Specialty? Background: I've been working management the last 10 years and a lot of my engineering (especially math) skills have left me. Regardless of the exam I take, I'm going to have to study and re-learn a lot of topics. I'm looking at the two above mentioned exams and I'm curious as to your opinion of which is the less painful. It doesn't matter which PE I get, my employer is merely requiring one for promotion.

 

[nutbutter]

Well, I'm not runoff, but I'll give you my thoughts. I majored in Civil with a submajor in ENV. I worked for 3 years in environmental consulting and 2 years in civil site work (land development). So, I have decent experience in both fields.
I took the PE last October and was struggling with the same question that you are. For me, the most difficult topic to revisit after a long absense was some of the environmental stuff. I was set on taking the Civil PE and I wanted to take the ENV afternoon portion, however, it was very hard. The ENV portion on the Civil Exam covers mainly water/wastewater treatment. However, I believe the ENV PE Exam covers a broader range of ENV topics. For me, the ENV portion on the Civil PE was so hard that I decided to take the Water Resources portion. It was much easier for me, especially since I wasn't practicing any water/wastewater treatment.
Anyway, I guess my point is that if you take the Civil/ENV exam and the ENV portion then prepared to get pretty familiar with water/wastewater treatment. However, you'll probably have to do that if you take the ENV PE exam too, but you can probably look forward to seeing a broader range of topics. Also, you won't see any structural or transpo, however, the questions you'll face in the morning session seemed very easy, and you should be able to answer these with little study as long as you're familiar with your PPI reference.

Peace

 

[Construimus]

Sorry for the late post on the subject, but I have a similar problem as tajiboy, having been in military/engineering management my entire career and my BS and MS were both purely environmental engineering. I'm looking to move west to be with family, but as previously discussed in the thread my ENV PE would not be recognized in CA. If I try to take the CA Civil PE I have zero background in 60% of the morning session materials (geotech, transportation, structural), and none of those are subjects I see myself successfully stumbling my way through by guessing. Does anyone have any thoughts on the relative difficulty of those subjects? How (un)realistic would it be to expect passing proficiency in those three subjects by studying a Civil PE review book?
Thanks

 

[SlideRuleEra]

Construimus - Whether your Environmental PE is recognized by a state board probably depends on how YOU present your qualifications in the written application. Rather than assuming that you have to go back "to square one", and start over, I suggest something like this:

Review California Plain Language Rule at the link that I posted above (here it is, for convenience

http://www.dca.ca.gov/pels/e_plppe.pdf

)
In particular review Section 2, Questions & Answers #4 & #17, along with Section 4, Q & A #3.

Complete the paper work to apply, by comity, for registration as a Civil Engineer.

Prepare for the take-home exam on California Laws and the proctored 2.5 hour exam on seismic & surveying.

Still a good bit of preparation, but a lot less than starting over.

No state board is in the business of "disqualifying" licensed engineers - they just give you their own set of "hoops" to "jump" thru. Have patience, prepare the application with the right "slant" (engineering is a much broader profession than many people assume), do your homework, follow the state's guidelines and you will "make your own luck".

And... if I am wrong, you will find out quickly - with absolutely no penalty (from the state) for having tried.

http://www.SlideRuleEra.net