Professional Engineer
Professional Engineer is the term for registered or licensed engineers in some countries including the United States and Canada.
Post-nominal letters used vary from location:
- P.E. or PE are used in the U.S.
- P.Eng. is used in Canada except the province of Quebec.
- Eng. (French:Ing.) is used in Quebec.
The earmark that distinguishes a professional engineer is the authority to "sign off" or "stamp" on a design or a structure, thus taking legal responsibility for it. Each country or state/province has specific procedures and requirements for the license. However these typically include elements of the following:
- graduation with a degree from an accredited program in engineering
- completion of a standard (e.g. "fundamentals of engineering" (FE)) exam which tests on basic courses and some elements of an engineering specialty
- accumulation of some years of experience doing engineering work under the supervision of a PE
- completion of a second "principles and practice" exam which tests higher level skills, and knowledge of practice and ethics
