Progression from IEng to CEng

SimonJD said:

Whether a Professional Registration Advisor (PRA) would be beneficial at this stage.

Yes! That was the easy question 

Okay, back to the main question, it's pretty much all down to competence A.2:

For IEng it is:
The applicant shall demonstrate that they: 2. Use a sound evidence based approach to problem solving and contribute to continuous improvement.
For CEng it is:
The applicant shall demonstrate that they: 2. Are developing technological solutions to unusual or challenging problems, using their knowledge and understanding and/or dealing with complex technical issues or situations with significant levels of risk.

There are other subtle differences, but if you can show A.2 at CEng you've probably hit all the others too. The trouble is, you can't do it by checklist any more than that, as there are 1001 ways of showing that CEng competence depending on your role and the industry you are in. What you need to identify is whether you can either:

• Show that you are developing novel solutions to problems (not just adapting solutions), or
• Taking final technical responsibility for high complexity or high risk engineering.

Probably most CEngs are in the second category, which makes sense (in a circular way), because that's the point of CEng - we want to know that the final signatory to the new plans for the nuclear power plant is competent to be that signatory even though others may have done a lot of the detail work.

So basically, either look for times when you've come up with new solutions (at least new to your industry / company) to non-trivial problems, or show that you are now at some form of signatory level.

But a PRA will help you identify these - they can't tell you that your evidence is definitely at the right level (that's for the panel of assessors to decide), but they can give you a level of confidence as to whether it might be.

Finally, hopefully you have a copy of UK SPEC, if not download it and see particularly the EngTech / IEng / CEng comparison tables in pages 40 onwards. That's what the assessors will be assessing you against.

https://www.engc.org.uk/media/a1yfae02/uk-spec-fourth-edition-v42.pdf

SimonJD said:

One area I am particularly interested in understanding is how work-based experience is assessed. Unfortunately, my route into engineering has been entirely through practical experience and professional development, rather than academia. As such, I do not hold a degree, doctorate, masters, or honours qualification.

On this point, as you already hold IEng you shouldn't have any major problem. However you should be prepared to add slightly more justification as to where your knowledge did come from, so that it's clear you are credible to novel solutions to problems, or to be fully trusted to take that final technical responsibility. So don't expect to just start your CEng application from the point you got your IEng, you'll need to revisit your whole career history and be careful to add in very bit of learning opportunity through each step in you career to show how you developed your present level of skills and understanding. Pick up every training course you can remember doing, and every bit of work experience that through mentorship or your own problem solving expanded your knowledge and understanding.

Again a PRA can help you with this. 

SimonJD said:

Any common pitfalls to avoid.

If your company has put you in a position where you are working at "CEng level" then, assuming that they are a competent company, you should be eligible for CEng. A common pitfall I see in non-graduate applicants is to forget that and to treat the assessors as crusty old university professors who are just there to catch applicants out. So they produce long rambling applications with lots of techy words in to try to justify themselves.

Instead, go in with the attitude that you are talking to competent engineers about what you do as a competent engineer and you're likely to be fine. Of course don't be arrogant, but be assertive and confident. Don't say " Unfortunately, my route into engineering has been entirely through practical experience...", just say "my route into engineering has been mostly through practical experience..." Which is the same for many other successful CEng applicants. 

And the other pitfall to avoid: ignore anyone who starts wittering on about CEng being "Masters degree level". It's just about being a technical leader today. Whatever your background. Similarly ignore anyone who says it's about having management experience. We live in a matrix management world where very often the senior engineers have nobody working for them. You just have to show that you have technical responsibility for work, not that you decide whether staff can have tomorrow off as leave or not. IEngs can make those decisions, CEng have bigger technical issues to worry about. (OK, I'm not being too serious with that last comment. But not entirely unserious either!)

Good luck,

Andy

SimonJD said:

Whether a Professional Registration Advisor (PRA) would be beneficial at this stage.

Yes! That was the easy question 

Okay, back to the main question, it's pretty much all down to competence A.2:

For IEng it is:
The applicant shall demonstrate that they: 2. Use a sound evidence based approach to problem solving and contribute to continuous improvement.
For CEng it is:
The applicant shall demonstrate that they: 2. Are developing technological solutions to unusual or challenging problems, using their knowledge and understanding and/or dealing with complex technical issues or situations with significant levels of risk.

There are other subtle differences, but if you can show A.2 at CEng you've probably hit all the others too. The trouble is, you can't do it by checklist any more than that, as there are 1001 ways of showing that CEng competence depending on your role and the industry you are in. What you need to identify is whether you can either:

• Show that you are developing novel solutions to problems (not just adapting solutions), or
• Taking final technical responsibility for high complexity or high risk engineering.

Probably most CEngs are in the second category, which makes sense (in a circular way), because that's the point of CEng - we want to know that the final signatory to the new plans for the nuclear power plant is competent to be that signatory even though others may have done a lot of the detail work.

So basically, either look for times when you've come up with new solutions (at least new to your industry / company) to non-trivial problems, or show that you are now at some form of signatory level.

But a PRA will help you identify these - they can't tell you that your evidence is definitely at the right level (that's for the panel of assessors to decide), but they can give you a level of confidence as to whether it might be.

Finally, hopefully you have a copy of UK SPEC, if not download it and see particularly the EngTech / IEng / CEng comparison tables in pages 40 onwards. That's what the assessors will be assessing you against.

https://www.engc.org.uk/media/a1yfae02/uk-spec-fourth-edition-v42.pdf

SimonJD said:

One area I am particularly interested in understanding is how work-based experience is assessed. Unfortunately, my route into engineering has been entirely through practical experience and professional development, rather than academia. As such, I do not hold a degree, doctorate, masters, or honours qualification.

On this point, as you already hold IEng you shouldn't have any major problem. However you should be prepared to add slightly more justification as to where your knowledge did come from, so that it's clear you are credible to novel solutions to problems, or to be fully trusted to take that final technical responsibility. So don't expect to just start your CEng application from the point you got your IEng, you'll need to revisit your whole career history and be careful to add in very bit of learning opportunity through each step in you career to show how you developed your present level of skills and understanding. Pick up every training course you can remember doing, and every bit of work experience that through mentorship or your own problem solving expanded your knowledge and understanding.

Again a PRA can help you with this. 

SimonJD said:

Any common pitfalls to avoid.

If your company has put you in a position where you are working at "CEng level" then, assuming that they are a competent company, you should be eligible for CEng. A common pitfall I see in non-graduate applicants is to forget that and to treat the assessors as crusty old university professors who are just there to catch applicants out. So they produce long rambling applications with lots of techy words in to try to justify themselves.

Instead, go in with the attitude that you are talking to competent engineers about what you do as a competent engineer and you're likely to be fine. Of course don't be arrogant, but be assertive and confident. Don't say " Unfortunately, my route into engineering has been entirely through practical experience...", just say "my route into engineering has been mostly through practical experience..." Which is the same for many other successful CEng applicants. 

And the other pitfall to avoid: ignore anyone who starts wittering on about CEng being "Masters degree level". It's just about being a technical leader today. Whatever your background. Similarly ignore anyone who says it's about having management experience. We live in a matrix management world where very often the senior engineers have nobody working for them. You just have to show that you have technical responsibility for work, not that you decide whether staff can have tomorrow off as leave or not. IEngs can make those decisions, CEng have bigger technical issues to worry about. (OK, I'm not being too serious with that last comment. But not entirely unserious either!)

Good luck,

Andy