Aero engineering student considering applying to civil jobs with the current market. How difficult would the Civil engineering FE be for someone who didn't study civil?

Back in my day FE was so generalized it was equally frustrating for everyone as it included a little bit of everything so didn't matter what discipline you actually studied - what you studied would be a small section so most of the material was sh*t you just had to know well enough for a few multiple choice guesses. I didn't get an undergrad in engineering but did go back for a ME in Civil Eng so I took a review course at local college to prep me for the FE since I didn't rake many of the courses covered on the exam.

As for PE exam, I borrowed a copy of a study guide (very popular but can't remember the author's name now) and worked through that generally on my own.

Having said all that, you can get licensed in any discipline you want and still practice in other disciplines if you feel you have the experience and expertise to do so. although they will list which discipline you tested in, the Board does not require you to take separate tests.

Why are you looking at CE specifically? Seems like ME could be a transition option, which often doesn't require licensure for career advancement and pays better then CE.

I'm 100% open to anything.I just attended the career fair and since the virtual format was a crap show just talked to whatever company has little to no wait. Civil just has lots of opportunities and I want to get to more project management side of things rather than super technical stuff so started looking into some in other disciplines.

Are you allowed to take the Civil PE with and Aerospace Eng degree? I thought you could take whichever FE, but the PE has to be degree specific. I could be misinformed, just what I've heard/read over the years.

I think you're allowed to take whichever exam you feel most closely aligns with your professional experience. Or at least that used to be the case, not sure if that's changed since they started allowing EITs to take the exam before their 4 years were up.

Check out Flow 3-d and similar companies. I've known a handful of Aeros who work in the Civil realm, primarily in fluid dynamics.

I thought the type of FE/PE you can sit for is governed by the completion of the ABET accredited courses you've passed. They'll probably take your money, let you accumulate work history, but then stop you from taking the PE before you take some civil specific upper level classes you didn't get exposed to in aero.

I would assume your biggest deficiency in education would be a soils/hydrology course. Thats too be expected though, if an airplane is interacting with the soil you've failed on the whole aspect of flying.

No. You don't have to sit for the PE that corresponds with your degree. I was I.E. and took the C.E. P.E. exam in Water Resources since that's where I had been working for years.

I applied for the P.E. exam about 20 years post-A&M. Went in the Army for years and never intended on being licensed. But after about 8 years working for a CE firm, I took the leap.

I applied for an FE waiver and was granted it at the same time I was approved to take the PE exam. I believe the only difference is I had to show an additional 4 years of experience on my SER application (so total of 9 years).

We have ME's in our firm that tested in CE too.

Hope that helps.

Yep just found the relevant entry on the board's exam FAQ.

Quote:

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Can I take the P&P in any discipline or branch that I choose?

When approved, you may choose to take the exam that best fits your experience.

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