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"Does this mean that drawing blueprints for the bridge is not engineering? What about working a crane? Laying brick? Sealing pavement? Sweeping the bridge?" Ye
by barik 14y ago
"Does this mean that drawing blueprints for the bridge is not engineering? What about working a crane? Laying brick? Sealing pavement? Sweeping the bridge?"
Yes. None of these items, strictly speaking, qualify as Engineering work for purposes of licensing. If you are applying for an Engineering license, you will need to subtract these hours from your Engineering experience, and if a large portion of your day-to-day work consists of these tasks, then it may take you significantly longer to obtain your license.
It took me six years rather than the usual four to get my license as a result. Lunch doesn't count. Facebook doesn't count. Filling out expense reports doesn't count. Re-filling the paper in the printer doesn't count. Soldering doesn't count. There are a large amount of necessary non-Engineering distractions in any career, and none of these count.
- lvh 14y agoDefining engineering in terms of what a legal definition somewhere undefined (I'm assuming you're talking about the US) seems unnecessarily narrow.
- barik 14y agoThen do you believe that the tasks outlined above are in fact Engineering. If so, why do you think so? And what is your definition of what would constitute Engineering versus non-Engineering efforts? It's true, my definition is US-based (maybe even based on a single state), and even more narrowly, it's based on US PE licensing requirements, which isn't even necessary for many Engineering fields these days. But at least I'm not dodging the question, here. As an example, drafting is billed at a different rate than Engineering precisely because drawing in CAD itself is generally not considered Engineering.