46 ISE Magazine | www.iise.org/ISEmagazine

While in college, I recall professors encourag-

ing seniors to take the Engineer-in-Training

exam (EIT), now called the Fundamentals of

Engineering exam, or FE. Actually, what I

remember most was thinking I had a lot more

practical uses for $85 and a full spring Satur-

day than to spend them on an optional test I wasn’t sure I

would pass or ever need.

Fast forward 15 years and I would end up spending $280

and 10 months studying for the FE exam I could have passed

easily with no studying if I’d had taken it while I had four

years of engineering courses fresh in my mind.

Here’s my journey to becoming a professional engineer

along with lessons I learned and want to pass on to you if

you’re on the fence about pursuing a PE license.

First steps: Sharpen the saw

During my third job out of school, I had the good fortune to

work directly for a PE. He taught me many things, includ-

ing the rights and responsibilities of a PE. That’s when I got

serious about becoming one. I was on my way to gaining

the four year’s engineering experience under a PE one needs

in most states.

Then, after two years working under the PE, I changed

careers when I found my dream job doing industrial engi-

neering for Chick-ﬁl-A designing process and systems for

more than 2,000 restaurants. At Chick-ﬁl-A, since I wasn’t

working under a PE and had a career-change learning

curve, I put my PE plans aside.

But two years into my new job, the desire came back. My

goal in pursuing a PE was to ensure I am bringing the whole

of the IE Body of Knowledge to bear on the systems I am

responsible for improving. Since my original degree wasn’t

in IE and I had been out of industrial engineering for more

than a decade while I chased other goals, I believed prepar-

ing for the PE exam would be the best way to sharpen my

saw and make sure I wasn’t leaving any knowledge or skills

in our discipline unused in the toolbox because of igno-

rance.

I wrote a proposal to my boss outlining the beneﬁts of

me becoming a PE and asking for the company to cover an

itemized list of study materials, a review course, the FE and

PE Exam, and the days off to take the course. I included a

timeline I felt I could hit. A couple of emails up the chain

later, I got full approval.

I picked up the pace studying. For me, preparing for the

FE exam was harder and more intimidating than the IE PE

exam because I needed to relearn every chemistry, physics

The journey to a PE license

Chick-ﬁl-A ISE: Credential has ‘indelible’ impact on his engineering

By David B. Reid

May 2020 | ISE Magazine 47

and basic electrical and mechanical engineering principle I

hadn’t used since school. I relied heavily on prepineer.com and

YouTube tutorials to remind me of the basics. (Note: Now

the FE can be taken as industrial engineering speciﬁc so you

don’t have go back and learn every chemistry and physics

subject you learned in school. This should make the process

more doable and practical).

Four years under a PE?

My next big challenge was the fact that I was no longer

working for a PE. Furthermore, I didn’t know many PEs

to provide the necessary references. Frustratingly, it wasn’t

clear from the boilerplate text on the state licensing web-

site whether or not it was an absolute requirement to work

directly under a PE for four years. Even when I called to

inquire, they were vague about it. I took this as a sign to

press on.

I’ve had the privilege of working for some brilliant and

disciplined degreed engineers throughout my career who

were not PEs. I sought out new PE colleagues in other in-

dustries and sent them samples of my work and asked them

if they would invest the time to get to know me enough to

endorse me. Universally, there was encouragement, support

and great advice from my new friends.

In my application for the PE license, I wrote, “In this age

of frequent career shifts and most engineers not pursuing

a PE license, I respectfully ask that my not having had the

experience of working directly under a PE for four years be

weighed against the abundance of diligent and responsible

engineering practice and supervision I have had with bosses

and at companies who excel in solid engineering. Though

these bosses were not PEs, they have instilled in me disci-

pline, excellence, ethics and a profound sense of responsibil-

ity for the safety and well-being of the employees and gen-

eral public I develop systems for. I submit that throughout

my weighty career I have had the kind of careful coaching,

education, accountability and discipline that easily makes

ups for an additional two years with the privilege of report-

ing to a PE.”

That must have worked because here I am.

Taking the PE exam

I highly recommend IISE’s PE Exam Review course.

Taught by experienced PEs, it left me with a sense of con-

ﬁdence that I had been exposed to the entire IE Body of

Knowledge. The large binder I received proved invaluable as

a study aid. Plus, you can take it in when you take the exam!

On exam day, I felt I was among my people as work-

ing engineers from across the state gathered and wheeled

in their books. The day was tense and exhausting, but I felt

good that there were few surprises. I ﬁnished early enough

that I had time to ﬁsh for a few answers directly from refer-

ence books I’d brought in a milk crate.

According to the NCEES website, the exam is computer-

based and closed book going forward. The good news is

there is a reference handbook with formulas you can learn

to use beforehand and quickly search electronically during

the test.

48 ISE Magazine | www.iise.org/ISEmagazine

The journey to a PE license

So far, nobody has asked for my PE stamp on a drawing (it

is a great way to personalize my books before loaning them

out, though.). But my PE has an indelible impact on the way

I practice engineering. What we engineers create can bless

or curse our fellow man as much as a doctor who impacts

a relatively few people compared to a typical engineer. For

me, the PE credential is my “engineer’s oath” to remind me

of my ethical duty to perform due diligence, to only speak

into what I have expertise in and to keep the public safe and

well-served. Finally, the PE credential demonstrates care

about our profession enough to continuously improve and

go beyond the requirements to merely get a job.

I currently lead a team of 10 young engineers whom I’d

like to inspire to become PEs in order to give their best ef-

forts and contributions in our profession. I want my respect

for the power of an engineer to change the world for the

better to be continued as a legacy of professional engineers

who do the same long after I put my pencil down.

A turn-by-turn roadmap for your journey

Some advice on pursuing your PE:

• First, take the FE while you’re still in school. It’s the least

amount of effort to pass because you’ve learned all the

material and it’s fresh.

• If you didn’t take it in school, it’s not too late to do it now.

Decide on a test date, set a study goal, study a few hours a

week, buy some prep resources and put the time in. You

can do this. You never know where you’re going to end

up. A PE can only help.

• Ask your company to pay for it. I can’t think of a bet-

ter professional development plan for an engineer than to

make sure you’re able to apply the body of knowledge of

your discipline to the problems you were hired to solve.

• Study smarter, not harder. Pareto prioritize your efforts.

Get 80% of the value for 20% of the effort. Never “got”

EE in school? Don’t wallow too long in that subject again.

Spend your time refreshing yourself on content you did

master. I found it encouraging that they bill the FE as “a

C student should pass it.” You’ve got this.

• If you don’t work directly for a PE, network for character

references or ask a PE to review your work and endorse.

Call and send letters to your state showing them you are

serious about meeting all PE requirements except the one

you can’t control – whether your boss is a PE. Make your

case in the application. If they reject it, appeal and ask for

some guidance on how you can close the gap.

• Work practice exams that have solutions provided. Learn

to recognize which problems are fast, straightforward

and in your sweet spot. Learn which ones are a waste of

your precious time because you’re probably going to get

it wrong anyway.

• Apply every test taking skill you’ve ever learned. Get

a good night’s sleep and have a healthy breakfast. Pace

yourself. Answer all questions; skip and come back to the

hard ones. Have your reference materials ﬂagged with

tags for quick lookup (the IE PE Exam Review provides

a good set). And don’t freak yourself out; the guy next to

you is just as clueless as you are. That’s why he brought

more books than you did.

• If you’re going to work as an engineer, become a PE. You

owe it to the public, your company, yourself and your

profession. 

For more information on the PE license and exam, con-

tact ncees.org.

David B. Reid, PE, is senior principal team leader, restaurant ex-

perience, at Chick-ﬁl-A Corporate in Atlanta. He has worked with

Chick-ﬁl-A since 2014. He is an IISE member.

To learn more about PE licensing

To train and learn more about the PE Exam, try these resources:

• IISE’s “PE Exam Review for Industrial Engineers” course is

scheduled for July 20-24 at IISE headquarters in Norcross,

Georgia. The ﬁve-day session can help improve the odds

of passing the Fundamentals of Engineering exam and

the PE exam. Instructors will cover all major elements of

the PE exam and offer a refresher in IE topics, terminology

and formulas and identify areas to focus on during exam

prep. Learn more and register at iise.org/IIETrainingCenter/

CourseSchedule.

• The National Council of Examiners for Engineering and

Surveying (NCEES), the nonproﬁt organization that

provides PE exams, is converting to computer-based

testing beginning in October. To learn more, visit https://

ncees.org/exams/cbt. You can also read more in the April

issue of ISE at link.iise.org/iseapril2020_schroedter.

• To learn more about getting your professional engineering

license, listen to an episode of Problem Solved: The IISE

Podcast, “PE Licensures: Facts and Myths” with featuring

Caitlin Kenney and Amy Greer at https://link.iise.org/

problemsolved_ep09. You also can hear David B. Reid

discuss “Engineering at Chick-ﬁl-A” at https://link.iise.org/

problemsolved_ep05.