DL Engineering Degree

CA EIT form

You sign the California EIT application form under penalty of perjury, no doubt about that. But the wording allows for a pretty broad interpretation. The exact wording on the form is "Have you had at least 3 years of engineering related work experience?", which the Board's "Plain English Pamphlet" further defines as "work of any nature with an engineering exposure". This is obviously not very stringent.

Ironically, sometimes lawyers are suspected of stretching the truth in this situation (OK, so maybe it's not ironic). California has a lot of patent attorneys who want to practice before the US Patent Office, which has a special "Patent Bar" exam. To qualify for the Patent Bar, you need a hard science or engineering degree; alternatively, you can qualify by passing the EIT exam. So sometimes lawyers take the EIT exam. An attorney would presumably not pursue the PE, and so the Engineering Board would never try to verify his pre-EIT work experience. But if he ever was challenged about it, he could probably argue, with a straight face, that patent law work had "engineering exposure" (OK, so maybe lawyers can argue anything with a straight face).

I'm not recommending that anyone perjure themselves on a California EIT application. Just trying to make the point that California's EIT application process is atypical; it is much looser than the process in most other states. Maybe not New Hampshire.

 

CalDog,

Again you are perfectly accurate. Work with an "engineering exposure" IS pretty broad. My only caveat is that there'd better be THREE YEARS OF SOMETHING that isn't tax law or flipping burgers! You MIGHT be able to claim actual construction work, even, but like I said there'd better be SOMETHING.

The LAST thing any lawyer needs is for something like this to show up in connection with his Bar application, whether before the Patent Office or a state court. Making a false representation on any licensure application is by itself sufficient grounds to reject any Bar application.

 

soupbone, you have touched on a few reasons why I am no longer considering Engineering as an option for my future studies. I am now torn between pre-pharmacy, which is offered at a local community college, or finishing my BA in Journailism, and then pursuing an MBA and working in Marketing or Public Relations. I have a head-start on the BA, but I would have to start from scratch on the pharmacy program.

 

Perhaps others can confirm it. I think ABET doesn´t accredit Associate Engineering programs. Nevertheless most of the CC have agreements with universities to facilitate the transfer of engineering students. Look, most universities in the US have basically identical engineering curricula for the first two years. Study math all the way to linear algebra and differential equations, enroll in calculus based physics courses, get dynamics, statics and circuit analysis (programming also). Then all the liberal arts and social sciences classes, including courses in writing and so on, and you´ll have pretty much all requirements for the first two years of an engineering curriculum. Then the fun begins. Depending on your background you could complete these first two years pretty quickly.

One more thing. I would consider as well industrial engineering, a field in which experience is not as crucial as in mechanical engineering. It can be also a lot of fun, and equally rewarding, as PhD2B or other industrial engineers could confirm. Besides it *might* be a safer route employment wise since it´s a much more versatile education.

 

Againg you guys keep giving me great options and ideas....Is Industrial Engineering similar to Mechanical for what I was wanting to pursue such as Theme park design, construction etc? My dream has always been to do that and i know it will be a tough road but I just want to make sure that if I were to decide on Industrial instead of Mechanical that i would still have that option. Thanks again for all your help and patience with me....

 

There are other reasons not to go into engineering. I would never discourage one from doing it but you do not need to be a PE to work as an engineer. Thus, this leaves the field open, many many engineering jobs at least, for h-1b foreigners. They are cheaper and firms fill up with them...or ship their engineering work overseas(they do it with architecture now).

I left engineering and was sucked into IT years back, as many engineeers were. IT experiences the same fate. There are engineering jobs out there...just don't expect it to be like the golden years of engineering years back.

At least with pharmacy, it does require licensure for the field to even work. So, entry to the field is somewhat restricted...at least more so than engineering. You can work as an engineer here even if your engineering degree is from the Punjab(by the way, just received the latest e-mail from professor dr. matloff. he quotes hillary clinton saying, "I am delighted to be the Senator from Punjab as well as from
New York. "). Can't do that with pharmacy.

 

No, if you absolutely wanna be a roaller coaster designer, then mechanical engineer is the way to go. Industrial engineering is something else. An industrial engineer is preocuppied with costs, optimization, integration of different technologies, ergonomics and the like. It is an education that can be used in both the service and the industrial sector. That´s why I said it could open more doors for you. But they are actually very different, and lead to very different jobs as well.

 

DISTANCE LEARNING ASSOCIATE'S DEGREES IN ENGINEERING

Charter Oak State College www.cosc.edu (BG15, 104) Engineering (General)
Education Direct www.educationdirect.com (BG15, 110) Mechanical Engineering
Excelsior College www.excelsiorcollege.edu (BG15, 110) Engineering (General)
Michigan Technological University www.admin.mtu.edu/eup (BG15, 163) Engineering (General)
Thomas Edison State College www.tesc.edu (BG15, 133) Engineering (General); Mechanical Engineering

 

Hey, Soupbone!

Here's another one to try on for size! As you mentioned, you could do you cop degree quickly. You might try transferring the courses you do have to one of the Big Three that offers cop degrees, either Charter Oak (www.cosc.edu) or Thomas Edison (www.tesc.edu), where you can get your associate's and/or bachelor's. Sorry, no cop degrees at Excelsior. Then, showing off your cop degree plus ten years' experience, you can land yourself a job in whatever big city police department is located in the same area as a night-time bricks & mortar engineering program. And, as duly noted, take the associate's in engineering first and get some engineering experience on that basis while pursuing your bachelor's.

 

Quality Engineer???

Another career you might consider (that works with both manufacturing and service sectors) is in quality assurance. A BS in Quality Assuranceis offered by California State U Dominguez Hills.
http://www.csudh.edu/bsqa/

You could use many of the BSQA courses to satisfy an Associate degree in Technology from Excelsior.


DETC accredited California National University offers a engineering degree. In my previous job, I would have considered hiring engineers with a CNUAS degree provided they met all other job requirements. However be aware that some companies insist on an RA degree.
http://www.cnuas.edu/Programs/DegreePrograms/Engineering/CourseListBsEngineering.asp

 

Re: Quality Engineer???

Or, something else to consider is engineering management. If you already have managerial skill/experience this could be a good field. Managing engineers, contracts, project management, etc.

With EM you could still be in the thick of engineering...but this job takes more communication(english) skills and people skills(cultural) than many foreign grads might have.

Grantham offers a BSEM, in engineering management.

 

Yes, I agree. Both quality engineering and engineering management are subfields of industrial engineering and both offer good employment prospects. Here in Europe 70% of our economy is based on services. Although I am an active member of SME I don´t know at this point the US data. However, I am almost sure the percentage is similar to that oif Europe (how scary!). Traditional engineering fields like mechanical or electrical are probably doomed to become marginal activities.

 

So do the ABET standards still apply to the management type degrees? Also with those types of degrees what are my chances of still actively working in the theme park industry? Thanks again for your time....

 

I don't know about the theme park industry but ABET standards do encompass engineering management degrees. Stevens Institute of Technology has a very good page describing the EM undergrad program and the field in general...

http://www.stevens-tech.edu/engineering/seem/UG/

 

BSET/BSIT | CET/CIT

There's another option for "Engineering Management" degrees which is too-often overlooked. That is the BSIT degree - BS in Industrial Technology. These degrees are NAIT-accredited (rather than TAC/ABET-accredited). BSIT degrees are deliberately structured with a dual concentration in Industrial Management/Supervision coupled with the selection of a Technology Concentration - such as Electronics, Mechanical Design, etc. BSIT holders are equipped to be, and typically become - supervisors and managers wherever they work. See www.nait.org.

Incidentally, the PE license is not realistic for most BSET and BSIT graduates. Instead, BSET grads can become NICET-Certified CET Certified Engineering Technologists. BSIT grads can become NAIT-certified CIT Certified Industrial Technologists. Not as well known as the PE, but it's like a secret handshake - those in the know, know, and network among themselves.

 

Re: BSET/BSIT | CET/CIT

Why?

 

Re: Re: BSET/BSIT | CET/CIT

Very low pass rate for BSET grads. Last time I looked it was less than 15% combined for the PE and EIT exams.

Also, many States prohibit Engineering Technology students from attempting PE licensure - for the very good reason that time on the job and two exams is not a sufficient test to discern True Engineers. For the same reason, people off the street are not allowed to write medical licensure exams without an acceptable academic background. You don't want sharp nurses or anatomy graduates cramming for and passing medical licensing exams...

BSET and BSIT grads should get CET/CIT Certification and be proud to call themselves Technologists.

 

The best option you have from a distance are the Engineering Councils Uk exam. This can be taken worldwide anyway..

http://www.city-and-guilds.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/SID-0AC0478D-4BFFC4A0/cgonline/hs.xsl/887.html

With that you need the discipline to study on your own. These exams are officially accepted as ABET equivalent.

The PostGraduate Diploma level is same as an Accredited MEng in the UK.

Taking through City & Guilds can be done anywhere, its very cheap if you have the discipline to self-study.

 

morleyl, I can´t find the fees anywhere in that page. Are you aware of the prices? One more thing, when you register, do you get a more extensive syllabus? I ask because those they have posted are generally too vague, and they recommend a lot of readings that cover the very same subject. I also took a look at the results sheet and they are a little bit disappointing. Very discrete results, to be honest. Any comment on difficulty of the tests? Thanks in advance.

 

Hi:

It's something I considered some time ago, but went another route. I still think its a good option anyway.

They chnaged the website recently, so its difficult to find the pricing. The best bet is to send them an e-mail with your location and see what you get.

I think the price should be around 100 pounds per subject exam. Of course you would definitely need textbooks. you can also get study materials here.

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html

I just got my CEng title like end of May so its a good route and well respected.