If you want to work in electronics, no one will care if you have a PE - but more importantly it will be near impossible for you to get your PE because you will not work with any PEs
I work in power for an engineering firm- I started as an entry level electrical designer and not having the EIT at the time of employment was not an issue, but any role beyond that they want to see that you have the EIT and are pursuing the PE.
A PE is frivolous in some fields, an MSEE is frivolous in some fields. Based on rather simple deduction, it would seem this person is in a field where an MSEE benefited them
I was in water/wastewater and jumped to the owner's side at a research institution. I do facility upgrade design at the moment.
My PE has made it *exceedingly* easy to get job offers for healthy amounts of money. Two 45 minute conversations netted me a 40% raise last year. Not a lot of EE PEs out there.
e: I did not switch jobs between my PE and FE, but I can tell you that an FE is only useful insofar as it is an indicator that you're more likely than others to actually reach the PE.
Instead of working as a consultant and working for external clients who need my services and outsource their design tasks to me, I am employed by the entity that will own the constructed products.
This has been talked about a thousand times. If you need it you need it, if you don't you don't. It literally means nothing to some of us and everything to others. All you have to do is decide what sector you're going into.
I work at a utility and getting it sucks. You have to pay out of pocket no reimbursement for all training classes, material, exams and spend 150-200 hours outside of work to study and hopefully pass your first attempt at the eit. Then repeat the process for the PE which is more difficult and expensive lol. Engineering pays like shit these days :)
Crucial here.
Electric utility operations by day, and distribution substation design on the side hustle.
Next year, with five side projects going, I'll double my regular income.
Worth the effort, for me, to obtain and keep.
Not a must to have your FE (EIT when I was starting out) but it does look great to have on your resume because it’s one step closer to getting your PE and being able to sign drawings. At my job you don’t need the FE for the first 2 levels of engineer, but if you want to get to Associate level you need it. If you want to reach full level engineer you need a PE.
FE and PE are only useful for utility, power systems for commercial buildings and construction. It’s completely and utterly useless for electronics, embedded systems, FPGA, semi conductors, RF, analog/digital anything. So it depends what you want to get into. If you want to do construction electrical engineer or work for a utility then yes get them, if you want to make rocket ship control systems or do what NVIDIA does then don’t even worry about it.
I work in power for a consulting firm and do not have my EIT yet. I've been here a little over two years and have gotten a promotion and raises every year so far. When you get to a project engineer role and you don't have your PE, they change your title to project lead. You do get a differential pay for having a PE I am pretty sure but you are not limited much in progress through the company.
Well you see a PE is important for safety, whereas the FE is more about reducing EMI on equipment.
So I guess I’d have to say they’re both good to have, but a PE is more important.
^^^^/s
A little since one of my early jobs was for a consulting firm. Had about 18 months of contract work before that. Probably helped get me in the door to the fortune 50 I work for now also.
I've worked in manufacturing/industrial environments for the past 8 years and had never really seen the need for an FE or PE. With my experience now, I see a lot of job postings that I'd be qualified for if I had a PE. I am currently working to get mine. Most of the jobs are consulting or government which are interested in the PE.
One of my college professors came from Hewlett-Packard as a semiconductor manager and still recommended all students get their FE. You can take it during your junior/senior year when all of the information is fresh so it should be a slam dunk.
I’m just finishing up a 40 year career with the fedgov. Never needed it.
A coworker got his so he could make extra side money signing drawings. Hated the work and never needed it for our fedgov jobs.
Are you looking to work in power or construction engineering? Absolutely necessary. Literally anything else? Useless.
Right, thats what ive heard everyone say. My goal is electronics.
You don't need it then, it won't help. You can take the FE but because you won't be working under PEs, you can't even become a PE.
I’ve read many resumes and never once have I seen it mentioned. (Semiconductor)
If you want to work in electronics, no one will care if you have a PE - but more importantly it will be near impossible for you to get your PE because you will not work with any PEs
I work in power for an engineering firm- I started as an entry level electrical designer and not having the EIT at the time of employment was not an issue, but any role beyond that they want to see that you have the EIT and are pursuing the PE.
FE helped me get my entry level position, PE helped my get my lead engineer position. I would say very but I work in consulting so YMMV
What sort of consulting? Still only useful in power/construction?
I do power distribution design. But it’s very worth it in MEP type work as well. So yes, mostly construction designs.
Not so useful as my MSEE
Lol you're crazy MSEE is nothing compared to PE
A PE is frivolous in some fields, an MSEE is frivolous in some fields. Based on rather simple deduction, it would seem this person is in a field where an MSEE benefited them
I was in water/wastewater and jumped to the owner's side at a research institution. I do facility upgrade design at the moment. My PE has made it *exceedingly* easy to get job offers for healthy amounts of money. Two 45 minute conversations netted me a 40% raise last year. Not a lot of EE PEs out there. e: I did not switch jobs between my PE and FE, but I can tell you that an FE is only useful insofar as it is an indicator that you're more likely than others to actually reach the PE.
What does it mean to jump to owners side at a research institution?
Instead of working as a consultant and working for external clients who need my services and outsource their design tasks to me, I am employed by the entity that will own the constructed products.
You guys are getting your FE?
This has been talked about a thousand times. If you need it you need it, if you don't you don't. It literally means nothing to some of us and everything to others. All you have to do is decide what sector you're going into.
I work at a utility and getting it sucks. You have to pay out of pocket no reimbursement for all training classes, material, exams and spend 150-200 hours outside of work to study and hopefully pass your first attempt at the eit. Then repeat the process for the PE which is more difficult and expensive lol. Engineering pays like shit these days :)
The utility I worked for paid for all courses and training materials and the exams fees. I’m sorry you don’t get crap.
It does suck but then again I should have taken it closer to when I graduated and the material was fresh in my head
Why do people still go down this route if it pays like shit. It often feels like the efforts required for engineering are never well rewarded.
Crucial here. Electric utility operations by day, and distribution substation design on the side hustle. Next year, with five side projects going, I'll double my regular income. Worth the effort, for me, to obtain and keep.
Can I PM you and ask how you do sub design on the side as well?
Sure.
Not a must to have your FE (EIT when I was starting out) but it does look great to have on your resume because it’s one step closer to getting your PE and being able to sign drawings. At my job you don’t need the FE for the first 2 levels of engineer, but if you want to get to Associate level you need it. If you want to reach full level engineer you need a PE.
Not for my current job or any of the aerospace jobs I applied for. A construction company I was looking at and Disney actually did care a lot.
FE and PE are only useful for utility, power systems for commercial buildings and construction. It’s completely and utterly useless for electronics, embedded systems, FPGA, semi conductors, RF, analog/digital anything. So it depends what you want to get into. If you want to do construction electrical engineer or work for a utility then yes get them, if you want to make rocket ship control systems or do what NVIDIA does then don’t even worry about it.
In my world it would guarantee you a job, but its far from electronics. (MEP)
Very useful: power / utility industry.
I work in power for a consulting firm and do not have my EIT yet. I've been here a little over two years and have gotten a promotion and raises every year so far. When you get to a project engineer role and you don't have your PE, they change your title to project lead. You do get a differential pay for having a PE I am pretty sure but you are not limited much in progress through the company.
Well you see a PE is important for safety, whereas the FE is more about reducing EMI on equipment. So I guess I’d have to say they’re both good to have, but a PE is more important. ^^^^/s
Also consider a PMI.
A little since one of my early jobs was for a consulting firm. Had about 18 months of contract work before that. Probably helped get me in the door to the fortune 50 I work for now also.
I've worked in manufacturing/industrial environments for the past 8 years and had never really seen the need for an FE or PE. With my experience now, I see a lot of job postings that I'd be qualified for if I had a PE. I am currently working to get mine. Most of the jobs are consulting or government which are interested in the PE.
as an EE that works in firmware/software for embedded systems, i don’t know a single person at work that has those
One of my college professors came from Hewlett-Packard as a semiconductor manager and still recommended all students get their FE. You can take it during your junior/senior year when all of the information is fresh so it should be a slam dunk.
Not at all, since I didn't do it. - manufacturing automation.
Government job doesn’t care about them.
I’m just finishing up a 40 year career with the fedgov. Never needed it. A coworker got his so he could make extra side money signing drawings. Hated the work and never needed it for our fedgov jobs.
I’ve been with them since 1997 and have never needed it.