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Value in IEng Registration

Allan Rowan
Afternoon all, just sitting behind a laptop screen pondering and found myself plotting course for my career progression and seemingly unlikely professional registration for CEng.


My current employer has encouraged that I achieve CEng registration (easier said than done) and any promotion to the next grade would be subject to attaining CEng. I'm wary of submitting my application for CEng due to not having an adequate level of education (I have a Bachelors degree only)  and at my age there's little chance of me returning to university for further study. I'm employed as a senior engineer and acting principal engineer within a project I'm currently commissioned. I appreciate that working at a principal engineer level does not necessarily provide the evidence required to prove that my understanding and knowledge is at a MEng level.


Rewind a few years, I was reasonably proud of successful registration and to achieve IEng, however, to date I'm of the opinion that it has done little else other than measurement / benchmark of my competence and identify area's in which I need to strengthen. My employer (at the time of registration) did not professionally recognise IEng registration and from my own observations nor do other employers (that I've noticed). A cursory glance of job listings on LinkedIn, shall normally state a requirement for applicants to hold CEng registration or working towards CEng with no mention of IEng. There's an immense pressure to achieve Chartership and with failure to do so could be possibly observed as I'm either inadequate or not quite cutting the grade by a prospective or current employer.


Is there any value to the IEng registration other than a personal achievement and worth maintaining? I imagine the nervousness and apprehension about navigating the CEng route and the fear of failure that I'm not unique in this respect and other's may have a similar story? Not sure what I would wish to hear, but knowing of others that succeeded with a similar background and level of education would provide some encouragement.


Regards,

Allan. 

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  • 0
    Roy Bowdler:
    ... if their self-evaluation based on a reasonable comparison with others is that CEng is appropriate, then a suggestion of IEng can be somewhere between difficult and insulting.  Some are also too modest.


    Frankly, how the h*** does the average Engineer, second guess the interpretation of UK-SPEC by IET Committees & Assessors? Even PRAs have different opinions about the same evidence.     ?      

     


    Roy,

    You raise many perfectly valid comments. I gained CEng more than 25 years ago and yet even now, a large proportion of my work would be classed as "IEng" (with some not even reaching that level). However there is other work that I do that I can proudly point to and say "that is definitely CEng level!"


    If a colleague looks at what I am doing as a comparison he/she could decide they are doing much of the same or similar work and therefore must be CEng, yet only actually be doing the bits that are IEng. This is one of the reasons I hate it when people come to me saying "I am working alongside others who are all CEng so I must also be CEng...."


    I have certainly found that some Interviewers seem to have a different interpretation of UK Spec, as do some other PRAs, but I think that the majority I have come across are pretty much in line with my interpretation (or perhaps I should state it as I am pretty much in line with them as they are the majority).


    Regarding the interpretation of UK Spec, whenever I am giving advice to a candidate I always (nowadays at least, having learned from experience) caveat my advice with the point that this is my opinion based on my interpretation of UK Spec and while this seems to coincide with a fair proportion of interviewers (based on previous candidates passed) there can be variations in interpretation. I therefore try to ensure that the candidate has a sensible understanding of the competence requirement so that if there is probing of the competence there is a chance he/she will understand what is being asked and why - I don't just assure them that what they have written should be ok without an understanding of why it should be ok.

     


Reply
  • 0
    Roy Bowdler:
    ... if their self-evaluation based on a reasonable comparison with others is that CEng is appropriate, then a suggestion of IEng can be somewhere between difficult and insulting.  Some are also too modest.


    Frankly, how the h*** does the average Engineer, second guess the interpretation of UK-SPEC by IET Committees & Assessors? Even PRAs have different opinions about the same evidence.     ?      

     


    Roy,

    You raise many perfectly valid comments. I gained CEng more than 25 years ago and yet even now, a large proportion of my work would be classed as "IEng" (with some not even reaching that level). However there is other work that I do that I can proudly point to and say "that is definitely CEng level!"


    If a colleague looks at what I am doing as a comparison he/she could decide they are doing much of the same or similar work and therefore must be CEng, yet only actually be doing the bits that are IEng. This is one of the reasons I hate it when people come to me saying "I am working alongside others who are all CEng so I must also be CEng...."


    I have certainly found that some Interviewers seem to have a different interpretation of UK Spec, as do some other PRAs, but I think that the majority I have come across are pretty much in line with my interpretation (or perhaps I should state it as I am pretty much in line with them as they are the majority).


    Regarding the interpretation of UK Spec, whenever I am giving advice to a candidate I always (nowadays at least, having learned from experience) caveat my advice with the point that this is my opinion based on my interpretation of UK Spec and while this seems to coincide with a fair proportion of interviewers (based on previous candidates passed) there can be variations in interpretation. I therefore try to ensure that the candidate has a sensible understanding of the competence requirement so that if there is probing of the competence there is a chance he/she will understand what is being asked and why - I don't just assure them that what they have written should be ok without an understanding of why it should be ok.

     


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