Continuing Education Requirements for Professional Engineer

September 30, 2016 11:14 AM

About a year ago, I passed my professional engineer (PE) exam for environmental engineering in Virginia. I know that, in order to renew my license, I have to complete so many continuing education (CE) hours every two years. However, the Virginia Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, Certified Interior Designers and Landscape Architects (APELSCIDLA) is not all that specific about what activities can be used towards CE credits or what type of documentation is expected. I haven't had much luck sifting through their webpage and have gotten unhelpful responses the couple times I have tried to call their office (when asked for information, they emailed me random information about architects). Does anyone have experience with tackling continuing education for engineers in the state of Virginia or elsewhere?
posted by C'est la D.C. to Work & Money (5 answers total)

Do you work at a company that does brownbag lunch seminars or after work seminars? I'm not sure specifically about Virginia's requirements but the engineers at my last firm in the northeast used those kinds of things. Also conferences or lectures at nearby schools or put on by professional societies or industry groups.
posted by FireFountain at 11:42 AM on September 30, 2016

Best answer: What does your professional society say and offer ?

Are there symposiums/conferences/trade shows for your discipline ? They usually have classes that offer CEUs. Similarly, local college/universities may also have CEU offerings (assuming they have an engineering school.. )

(the VA page seems you have to attest you took 16 hours, and have on-hand some kind of proof, but don't have to submit the proof.)
posted by k5.user at 11:48 AM on September 30, 2016

Best answer: I’m a PE in Michigan and Texas. I took a look at the Virginia board rules and it looks pretty similar to what both MI and TX require. So things like seminars, conferences, lectures and also self directed study. I get a good chunk of mine from a conference I attend every year (they actually advertise this as a selling point) then some additional hours from lunch seminars that work hosts and “self directed study.” For the self directed stuff, my firm contracts with a continuing education company that has online courses (these are usually of the read text, take quiz variety, but I’ve actually learned some interesting stuff from them)

Ask around at work and see what others are doing – they may have some good ideas of interesting and useful conferences or seminars you could be attending. Also, there are a lot of online companies that offer classes (just google VA PDH to see a bunch of options) but they seem to be really expensive to me when there are other options out there to get credits.

For documentation, I just keep an excel file that lists the date, activity, number of hours, etc. At conferences or seminars you will sometimes receive a certificate that shows the hours you received.
posted by Sabby at 12:07 PM on September 30, 2016

Oh, and I totally forgot - ASCE offers a bunch of online stuff, and if you are a member I think you get some for free every year.
posted by Sabby at 12:16 PM on September 30, 2016

Best answer: I log any lectures / presentations that I go to, especially those given by the local chapters of professional societies (e.g. IEEE). I was advised early on that that is plenty sufficient. This is in in Georgia, where the requirement is something like 30 hours every two years, and that requirement is usually covered handily by the professional society meetings and an all-day seminar here and there.

All the CEU advertising mailers I get go straight into the trash :)

Definitely find the local chapters of relevant professional societies and start going to their meetings. You'll reap the benefits for years to come.
posted by intermod at 12:51 PM on September 30, 2016 [1 favorite]