Ben,

Roy Bowdler has described the scenario very accurately in my view (as I've come to expect)

I'd just like to add though that, thoughh Michael has every entitlement to his own perspective on I.Eng, clearly tainted by personal negative experiences, I don't find that viewpoint particularly helpful to somebody in your situation.

When I mentioned I.Eng, I was not doing so with the perspective of being a stepping stone to C.Eng - though it can be and turned out be so in my case (and my experience was more positive), it wasn't my original game plan, and my suggestion to you was that it's likely it's an attainable goal for you right now and is a worthy status to attain, being, as Roy says, representative of a senior professional engineer, typical of the bulk of good, effective engineers in the workplace. I suggested it as a means for you to declare to your employer, and the world at large "I'm a good engineer, I have a registration that has validated that, and I am entitled to walk tall". Seen in that perspective, and regardless of whether or not it's an effective stepping stone, it's a worthy declaration of your current status.

The thing is that it is due to exactly the kind of negative view put forward by Michael that the popularity of I.Eng has fallen, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you go for it, get it, think positively about it and trumpet your success to your employer and the world at large, regardless of what they're currently saying to you, your status evidenced by it is bound to be seen as a positive step in the right direction, and a demonstration of commitment. Ideally, it will enable you to put over the proof it gives of your suitability for your role, to "convert" them on the topic and, as I already offered, I (and others) can provide you with material to use to that end - hopefully, coming from a C.Eng and Fellow who interviews candidates for award at both levels, that would be something they would take seriously, and if not, as Mehmood suggests, you have other options open to you. I, for one, when considering appointments, attach huge value to I.Eng. It's definitely preferable to "I don't have anything other than a degree to prove my worth".

Ben,

Roy Bowdler has described the scenario very accurately in my view (as I've come to expect)

I'd just like to add though that, thoughh Michael has every entitlement to his own perspective on I.Eng, clearly tainted by personal negative experiences, I don't find that viewpoint particularly helpful to somebody in your situation.

When I mentioned I.Eng, I was not doing so with the perspective of being a stepping stone to C.Eng - though it can be and turned out be so in my case (and my experience was more positive), it wasn't my original game plan, and my suggestion to you was that it's likely it's an attainable goal for you right now and is a worthy status to attain, being, as Roy says, representative of a senior professional engineer, typical of the bulk of good, effective engineers in the workplace. I suggested it as a means for you to declare to your employer, and the world at large "I'm a good engineer, I have a registration that has validated that, and I am entitled to walk tall". Seen in that perspective, and regardless of whether or not it's an effective stepping stone, it's a worthy declaration of your current status.

The thing is that it is due to exactly the kind of negative view put forward by Michael that the popularity of I.Eng has fallen, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you go for it, get it, think positively about it and trumpet your success to your employer and the world at large, regardless of what they're currently saying to you, your status evidenced by it is bound to be seen as a positive step in the right direction, and a demonstration of commitment. Ideally, it will enable you to put over the proof it gives of your suitability for your role, to "convert" them on the topic and, as I already offered, I (and others) can provide you with material to use to that end - hopefully, coming from a C.Eng and Fellow who interviews candidates for award at both levels, that would be something they would take seriously, and if not, as Mehmood suggests, you have other options open to you. I, for one, when considering appointments, attach huge value to I.Eng. It's definitely preferable to "I don't have anything other than a degree to prove my worth".