The Need for Having Mandatory Continuing Education for Professional Engineers

Surprisingly, one of the most crucial professionals across various industries around the globe does not have a similar national or global requirement. The qualifications and requirements of different professional engineers are usually set at the state level; hence no uniform need for all engineer professionals. But is there mandatory continuing education for these professionals.

In the United States and across the globe, there is no national standard for continuing education for engineering professionals. In a country like the United States, there is confusion on which are the right qualifications and activities an engineering expert should engage in.

The state-to-state requirements in the United States come in different documentations, the scope of learning, and diverse renewal periods. Such diversities are some of the primary reasons why there should be a national standard of every professional in the engineering field. But why should there be continuing education in this field?

Importance of Continuing Education for Professional Engineers

The professional skills are enhanced

Acquiring skills is one of the significant benefits one can get by furthering their studies in this field. In a country where every professional is supposed to uphold their ethics, the engineering experts will be aware of what they are supposed to do.

Better infrastructure

A knowledgeable pool of experts will lead to safer infrastructure. That means the chances of having collapsing buildings will be very minimal.

You take your career to the next level

You have a chance to expand and add to your expertise, making you more knowledgeable in this field.

Salary increment 

Engineers will enjoy an increment in their salaries because of their unassailable skills in the new technology. Their status will also continue to increase as the level of technology continues to escalate. This training boost one’s confidence, and they fully satisfy their job requirements.

Acquiring and maintaining credentials

As engineers train in this mandatory continuing education, they gain more relevance and get better ranking in their membership and certification.

For most states in the United States, you need a continuing education course if you want to renew your RN license. However, Colorado and Arizona don’t require the course. Just as there is continuing education for medical practitioners like nurses, so should there be continuing education for engineering students.

Engineering Ethics

Although engineering ethics vary from one state to another, most of the states accommodate continuing education in ethics. Training in engineering ethics is one of the excellent ideas that upgrade the value of professional engineers.

Ethics training is the cornerstone of engineering practice as the ASCE refers to it. This body recommends that every engineering expert should go through ethics training for at least one hour in every year. Nevertheless, some states like New Mexico offer 4 hours every two years, while Texas offers 1 hour for every year. So there is no distinct set standard for the states. They differ from each other.

Before Getting the Certification 

Before you take any course as an engineering guru, you will be required to satisfy the following steps:

1. Have a preview of all the course materials

There is such a vast collection of courses from which you can select. In their online courses, each course description has a link that enables you to download all the course materials you need. After the download, you will need to study the course materials.

2. Purchase your preferred course

After reviewing the course materials and reading through the description, you will see “Buy Now” to purchase the course. If you already have an account, you can easily pay for your course. If you are new, you will need to register and create a new account. You will only need an email address and your name.

After that, you can add your preferred courses into your shopping cart by simply clicking on the “Add to Cart.” You will then be prompted to pay using a credit card.

3. Study your course materials

When you are in your student account, you have the freedom to select the course right in your student dashboard. Within the chosen course, you will get links directing you to the course materials, which are in the form of Adobe PDF files.

4. Take the Quizzes

You will need to pass with 70% or more on these exams. To access the exams, you will need to log into your account. On the dashboard, you will see all the courses you have purchased outlined there in the “Current Courses.” Select the course from which you want to take the exam. Click the “Exam” icon for you to begin the exam. With these exams, you can pause and return later to finish.

5. View your certificate

After you have passed the exam, you can easily access your certificates of completion. Log in to your student account and click on “My account” and then “Completed Courses” tab.

The importance of having a standardized national mandatory continuing education for engineering professionals cannot be emphasized seeing the many benefits that it brings to the experts.