<p>I'm an electrical enginnering student and I'm focusing in the area of elctronics. Do electronics EE's benefit from a PE license? Should I even bother to get one??? I know power EE's get them.....</p>
<p>Probably not - outside of power and a few government jobs most EE’s just don’t need it.</p>
<p>I believe you need a few letters of recommendation from current PEs that have supervised your work, so it’s unlikely you’d even be able to get a PE without actually having some need for one.</p>
<p>Thanks guys. Reason I’m asking is because a few senior engineers I know in power are pushing me to take the FE exam and they said whether or not I go into power, I should still try work towards a PE as an EE. I guess I’m not seeing the missing link here as to why they’re so strong about convincing me.</p>
<p>Do electrical engineers at Linear Technologies or Texas Instruments need a PE since they make IC’s for the general public?</p>
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No they do not.</p>
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<p>Not saying you should be working towards a PE, because you probably won’t go into power, but…</p>
<p>Regardless of whether or not you ever go for a PE, it’s quite beneficial to take the FE simply because it will be a LOT easier now (with information & math fresh in your head) than a few years down the road when you’re out of school. </p>
<p>In other words, if by some small minuscule chance that a company you work for wants you to have a PE, it’s worth the $100 or so (depending on the state) to already have one of the tests out of the way.</p>
<p>It will be a lot easier, but that doesn’t make it any better an investment - outside a few specialties and industries, most EE’s will have neither the need nor the opportunity to get the PE license, so even if it is easier it is still a $100 and a lot of study time that will pay off <5% of the time. Heck, and EE is probably more likely to go for an MBA than for the PE, but you don’t hear people suggesting that every EE grad preemptively take the GMAT, do you?</p>
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To be fair, GMAT scores are only valid for 5 years. So that’s not really a valid comparison considering an EIT certificate does not expire.*</p>
<p>I wasn’t saying the OP NEEDS to take the FE. It’s just something that is reasonable to consider instead of just blindly dismissing the idea. </p>
<p>I know several EE’s working in PE-necessary industries that never would have guessed in a million years that they would have needed it. They all say that they wish they had taken the FE when they were still in school. Again, not saying this will ever apply to the OP, but it is food for thought.</p>
<p>*just did a quick google search. Apparently there are a small handful of states that have 8 year time limit for EIT’s BUT you can renew it with little-to-no hassle. The GMAT, on the other hand, would have to be retaken.</p>
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But how many engineers transition to jobs suddenly requiring the EIT after 5 years?</p>
<p>My point is that it is a bad bet. Yes, it is easier to take the FE exam while still in school… but it costs a $100 and a day of testing per attempt, and working that in during your senior year, along with the not insubstantial amount of studying that most people put into it, makes for a substantial investment that for most engineers will never pay off! Yes, it is tougher to take it later in your career, but if you take it later in your career at least you know you need it and/or want it.</p>
<p>When I started at my company (which has thousands of engineers) I heard a lot of the other new engineers and interviewees ask about working under a PE so they could use their EIT certificate, and the overwhelming response was that (a) they didn’t need it and (b) we only had a couple of PE’s anyway. I met one once. One, in seven years.</p>
<p>Consider the specialties you are interested in, and see if they expect/require/reward the FE/PE sequence. If so, absolutely do it. If not, why bother? Take the GRE instead - it is a similar investment and you are far more likely to apply to a grad program within 5 years of graduating than you are to need an EIT certificate.</p>