Culture on My Mind
Professional Engineer
June 4, 2026

It’s been a while. On January 15th, I started a prep course to study for the Professional Engineer licensing examination, and the course started in earnest on January 19th. That was day I posted about Classic Concentration before dedicating pretty much all of free time to studying.

I put off taking this exam for years. My education was science-based instead of engineering, and most of my knowledge comes from on-the-job training, so the prospect of studying for the PE was daunting. My company recently decided the PE should be a requirement for the level directly above mine, thus limiting my promotion potential, so I decided it was time.

Yes, it was daunting, but I took the exam and passed it. While I can’t talk about the contents of the exam itself since it includes an non-disclosure agreement to prevent cheating, I can talk about my process as a “non-traditional” engineer and encourage others on their own journeys toward licensure.

What is a Professional Engineer (PE) license? It’s a credential issued by states in the US that grants engineers of various specialties a legal authority to sign, seal, and submit engineering plans, designs, and public documents. It is the highest standard of competence in the profession and displays rigorous educational, testing, and experience criteria.

It ensures public safety, liability and trust, and (as mentioned before) enables career advancement. Some services, such as critical infrastructure projects, require a PE to validate plans. The official stamp associated with the license means bearing legal and professional responsibility for the work.

Think about it like a medical doctor, a lawyer, or an accountant: Getting licensed becomes a badge of authority and legal responsibility.

What are the requirements? In general, a candidate needs a four-year Bachelor’s degree in engineering from an accredited program, a passing grade from the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam, and time spent working with a licensed professional engineer. The FE exam assesses foundational engineering knowledge and is usually taken early in an engineer’s career. It grants the title of Engineer-in-Training (EIT).

But I never took the FE. I never became an EIT.

In my case, my state offers alternatives. My science-based Bachelor’s degree is acceptable, and since I haven’t taken the FE exam, I had to work for a licensed PE for sixteen years. Every state is different, so check your state laws for your particular path.

What about the PE exam? The PE exam is an 8-hour, 80-question, computer-based assessment based on your specific discipline. It is administered by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES). My company sponsored a prep course through PPI2Pass and Kaplan, which is the path I recommend since it offers live classes, an interactive Q&A forum, homework assignments, a massive practice bank, and two practice exams.

PPI’s question bank and practice exams are intentionally difficult. I also used the NCEES practice exam to get a flavor for how the actual test day would go. It’s definitely worth the purchase. The homework includes reading assignments, which in my case was Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual, 14th Edition by Michael R. Lindeburg, PE. The book is not available for download or printing, but is was helpful enough that I plan to add a copy to my professional library.

Class was held twice a week in the evenings, deliberately scheduled since the vast majority of candidates have day jobs. The classes were also recorded and available to watch on demand, but I found the ability to ask questions and clarify important points in real time to be very helpful.

The exam itself is demanding, and the practice was well worth the investment. Especially considering how candidates need to average six minutes per problem and each problem combines topics learned during study. In my case, that was thermodynamics, fluid flow, and everything in between.

What did I learn? That’s an interesting question. I refreshed a lot of information from my degree and my Navy nuclear days, but I learned a lot more about how to address those topics than I have in my previous experience. I also learned about new topics, including mechanical engineering topics that my science classes never touched. I also have a greater appreciation for HVAC professionals.

There’s also value in what I learned (or re-learned) about myself on the journey.

In academic and educational situations, I’m a perfectionist. An exam is measuring my ability to learn and retain information, and my brain processes that as a measure of my worthiness to be in the program. I hadn’t thought about that facet of my personality because it’s been a long time since my Master’s program. One of the huge downsides to that bowl of neurospicy noodles is frustration if my numbers aren’t perfect. To say that my anxiety meter was pegged high for the duration of my study time is an understatement.

I studied the material until two days before the exam. The day before, I assembled what I needed for the exam and then spent the day outside with friends and family. After exam day, the anxiety abated slightly but was replaced with the 7-10 day wait for results.

Only after the passing notification came through did I take a moment to breathe.

Considering all of that, I would still recommend the journey, especially to what I call “non-traditional” engineers. It’s a lot of hard work, but it feels great to beat that challenge. If anything, don’t wait as long as I did. Take it on and do your best.

Also, try to convince your employer to help by paying for the prep classes and the exam, or even offering a bonus when you pass the exam.

What’s next? Well, hey, I have more free time, so expect to see things pick up around here again. I have a lot of catching up to do, especially since I missed some big things in the world over the last six months. Did you know that humans went back to the moon?

(I’m kidding about the moon part. I wasn’t under a rock… just a pile of paper.)

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Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.

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