Hi Paul,

As a PRA I have helped many engineers successfully become CEng without a degree. My main bit of advice is to contact the IET's mentoring service and get yourself a mentor. The application process is the same whether you have a degree or not, but a mentor (and a PRA when you're near applying) can help you make sure you've really clearly shown how you've gained the same level of knowledge and understanding.

Just be clear about what technical decisions you make (not just by "following the book"), that you use an engineering process to make those decisions (not just "it's what we've always done"), and that you take responsibility for seeing them through. If you talk through what technical decisions and judgements you make with a mentor and/or PRA they can help you see which of them are CEng material, and how you should best explain them. Of course a mentor may also suggest bits of further experience it's worth getting before you apply if they think you might not be quite ready, that's sort of their role.

I will say that I find many non-graduates' first draft applications say far too much about some things and not enough about others. A very common mistake is to treat it like an exam paper and give loads of detail about the technology to try to demonstrate knowledge. To the assessors that's irrelevant, what they want to know is what were you responsible for and what engineering knowledge and approach did you apply to solve those problems. But again the mentor / PRA will help you get that balance right.

Hope that helps,

Andy

Hi Paul,

As a PRA I have helped many engineers successfully become CEng without a degree. My main bit of advice is to contact the IET's mentoring service and get yourself a mentor. The application process is the same whether you have a degree or not, but a mentor (and a PRA when you're near applying) can help you make sure you've really clearly shown how you've gained the same level of knowledge and understanding.

Just be clear about what technical decisions you make (not just by "following the book"), that you use an engineering process to make those decisions (not just "it's what we've always done"), and that you take responsibility for seeing them through. If you talk through what technical decisions and judgements you make with a mentor and/or PRA they can help you see which of them are CEng material, and how you should best explain them. Of course a mentor may also suggest bits of further experience it's worth getting before you apply if they think you might not be quite ready, that's sort of their role.

I will say that I find many non-graduates' first draft applications say far too much about some things and not enough about others. A very common mistake is to treat it like an exam paper and give loads of detail about the technology to try to demonstrate knowledge. To the assessors that's irrelevant, what they want to know is what were you responsible for and what engineering knowledge and approach did you apply to solve those problems. But again the mentor / PRA will help you get that balance right.

Hope that helps,

Andy

Hi Andy, 

Thank you for your response, it’s all fantastic guidance and greatly appreciated. 

I will be applying for a mentor tomorrow and should have one in a week or so. 

thanks 

Hi Andy, I don't have a degree either, but do have IEng and over 20 years experience. Would your advice still be to contact a PRA / Mentor to seek CEng status? Many Thanks

Hi Sue,

Let's put it this way - there's no cost in using a PRA and it will make it more likely that your application is "right first time". I regularly come across IEng > CEng applications that need a bit of work because they're based on "IEng + experience", whereas actually they need to be written slightly differently. So you may well find it helps unless you're really confident in the different competence requirements between IEng and CEng.

It's probably unlikely you'd need a mentor, I'd tend to suggest starting with a PRA, and only if they suggest you'd need xxx experience before submitting might it be worth asking for a Mentor.

I went IEng first and then CEng (at that time I did have a degree but it was a pretty awful one), I wish in hindsight I'd used a PRA for both, it would have just made the whole process less stressful.

Good question!

Thanks,

Andy