 It's National Engineers Week here in the United States. What is National Engineers Week? Why is it important? And what are some things that you might not realize about getting your professional engineering license that you should know? Let's find out. So it's National Engineers Week here in the United States. And I really wanted to dedicate this episode to the professional engineering license and talk a little bit about number one, what National Engineers Week is and its origin. Secondly, I want to highlight some new stories currently going on around the country related to the professional engineering license that I think all engineers should be aware of. And lastly, we reached out on social media and we put a question out there to license professional engineers. What was one of the more surprising things that happened to you when you received your license or something about getting the engineering license that you weren't aware of until you had it? And so I'm going to talk through some of those towards the end. And really the whole emphasis of this episode is about the professional engineering license and about National Engineering Week. And so let's start there. And I'm going to read this right off of Wikipedia because I want you to see what's out there in terms of the public, in terms of what National Engineers Week is. And in the United States, National Engineers Week is always the week in February, which encompasses George Washington's actual birthday, February 22. It's observed by more than 70 engineering education and cultural societies and more than 50 corporations and government agencies. The purpose of National Engineers Week is to call attention to the contributions to society that engineers make. It is also a time for engineers to emphasize the importance of learning math, science and technical skills. The celebration of National Engineers Week was started in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers in conjunction with President George Washington's birthday. President Washington is considered as the nation's first engineer, notably for his survey work. Prior to the start of National Engineers Week, the University of Missouri College of Engineering began celebrating the world's first engineers week in 1903, 48 years before NSPE with St. Patrick as the patron saint of engineers. So again, that's a little bit of a background of National Engineers Week. And NSPE has done a tremendous job in kind of growing it along with other associations that now participate and really get the word out there. And it is an important thing. I mean, if you're an engineer, you should be proud to be an engineer. And it's nice to have a week to celebrate that. And the whole bit about George Washington is pretty interesting. I tend to forget that from time to time and recently read a read a book about George Washington with my son that kind of reinforced that. So that's what National Engineers Week is. You can go online and we'll link to information about it. But now I just want to talk about a couple of interesting stories going on around the United States related to the engineering license. And I do understand that not everyone that listens to this podcast will pursue a professional engineering license because in your discipline of engineering, it may not be important. But what I will say to you is getting a certification or credential related to your career, I believe is very important. Because in the technical world, your reputations and your credentials, that's your resume. That's your expertise. That's why people are coming to you. So if it's not the PE for license for you, maybe it's something else, I'm just going to focus on the PE license today, because it's National Engineers Week, of course. And so these articles that I'm going to reference here are all in the latest issue from the National Society of Professional Engineers PE Magazine, which is a great member's benefit. If you are a member of NSPE, and I've been a member for a long time, I'm just going to run through a couple of these articles again, because I just want you to understand what's going on around the country. The first article is entitled Federal Safety Agency Challenges Licensed Exceptions. And the first sentence alone is kind of eyeopening, the National Transportation Safety Board has identified 31 states that do not require a licensed professional engineer natural gas pipeline project. So you can just think about that. And that's kind of scary. You know, some of these natural gas pipeline projects are pretty involved projects. I mean, they all are really involved projects. And so not having a licensed professional engineer involved with the projects to me sounds very concerning. So NSPE is addressing this nationally through their advocacy efforts. And some of the states individually are also mentioned in the article, like Virginia, Illinois and Maine that are taking some actions around this specific issue. There was also a mention of some of New York's work related to the same issue on gas transmission lines. So these are some of the things that we need to be aware of as licensed engineers. And if you do get involved in advocacy of some kind, you can focus on issues like this. A second article was entitled OSPE Advocacy Makes a Difference. PEs Gain a Voice in Amusement Ride Safety. This article refers to a kind of a tragedy that happened on opening day of the Ohio State Fair back in 2017. There was an accident in 18 year old Marine recruit Tyler Jarrell lost his life. And the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers has spent the last two years advocating for the inclusion of a PE in amusement ride safety in the state. And finally, this past November, Ohio Governor Mike DeWinge signed Tyler's law, HB 189, which strengthens inspection standards for amusement rides and places a PE on the Ohio Advisory Council on Amusement Ride Safety. So these are things that you might not even think about. You might see on the news that there was an accident with a roller coaster or some kind of ride of an amusement park. Then think about what engineers are doing behind the scenes and policymakers are doing behind the scenes to make sure that a licensed professional engineer can be involved with these structures, with these projects to ensure the safety of the public. I only knew about this because again, from being an NSP member, I'm reading about it, but it's something that we need to be aware of and we need to talk to people about. There was another article after excavation incidents, Philadelphia puts PEs in charge. So following recent building collapses, that's a plural in Philadelphia, the city approved a new PE inspection requirement for excavation projects, again, to improve public safety. They're also requiring monitoring and inspection by a PE when certain requirements are met for excavation projects. Again, just for a safer overall construction process. Populations are growing. There's more construction happening in and around these cities. And that means older guidelines aren't going to apply anymore, but the only way newer ones are going to get in place, a lot of times is because licensed professional engineers, again, get into advocacy and organizations like NSPE, ASCE and other organizations push that and help to facilitate it, providing a conduit for their members to get access to the Senate, to the House, to other government agencies to help this happen. And a couple more articles still, Florida Society Opposes Licensing Board Sunset Bill. Here's a situation in Florida where the state was trying to devalue kind of licensing or credentialing, meaning that if a position in one Florida county did not require a professional engineering license, and in another county it did, they were trying to make the default the lowest acceptable regulations. So in other words, in this county that used to require a PE license, they're saying, no, you don't need a PE license anymore, because this other county doesn't require one. Again, that's just not safe. It doesn't sound safe to me. And so the Florida Engineering Society is working hard to fight against that and other things of that nature. And the last article that I'll mention is along the same lines, Idaho Society Questions Universal Licenser Proposal. Again, the same idea, the government in Idaho of course wants to make it easier for people to come into Idaho and do work, but getting to the point where they're saying, well, if they don't require this PE license in another state or another location, we're not going to require it here even if we used to. So again, you're seeing like this devaluing of the engineering license or people trying to strip the license out in several states. And so the National Society of Professional Engineers and its state societies have done a lot of work to try to fight this. And I wanted to use this podcast as a platform during National Engineers Week to bring some attention to that so that you're aware of what's going on out there. Whether you're someone who's licensed or not, or you're going to get licensed or not, just as an engineer, I would hope that some of these things would be concerning to you. And if you're not an NSPE member, you should think about it. NSPE encompasses all of the different engineering disciplines. And I know on this podcast, we have engineers in all disciplines, and we've had some of their presidents on the podcast in the past and we can link to those. But again, it's just about getting out there and not just advocating for your profession, but our profession touches the public. So by advocating for the profession, you're advocating for the safety and well-being of the public. All right, so let me transition into the last thing that I want to focus on here today in this episode. This was a question that we posed to some of our social media subscribers and followers. What is one thing about becoming a licensed engineer that surprised you or that you didn't expect? And the first answer comes from Joseph Simone, professional engineer and certified general contractor. He said, what surprised him was how undervalued we are. I'm a licensed contractor and did construction for almost 10 years before obtaining my PE. In construction, clients paid on time and respected my work most of the time. But as an engineer doing plans, some clients are slow to pay and fight the fees and we don't have the right of lien like a contractor does. So I'm not too familiar with the lien and those regulations, but what I will say is I have found that to be the case in my own career as an engineer is that it just doesn't seem that we're respected in that way as some of the other professions in terms of payment and fee structures and things of that nature. What's always been interesting to me is if you look at how engineers are viewed in other countries outside of the US, in many countries, they're held to a much higher standard. In many countries, they use the word engineer before your name like engineer Fasano. Whereas in the United States, that doesn't happen. You might hear of a doctor, of course, that gets referred to as a doctor, but not an engineer that gets referred to as an engineer. So I happen to agree with Joseph here. And again, the only thing that we can do to combat this is continue to advocate for the profession and make it clear to people on what we're doing for this, for the country and for the health and safety of the public. In fact, in an upcoming episode of our civil engineering podcast, we're going to interview Peyton Gibson, who was a committee of the, one of the ASCE states report cards. The ASCE report card is kind of a report card of the infrastructure in each state and they have a national report card. And the point of that is to let the public know that the infrastructure grade for the US, let's say, is a D, which means it's not good. And if engineers aren't out there helping to get some of these things resolved and fixed and improved, then you're at risk. And so helping people understand what engineers are really doing for them can help to combat this challenge. The second one is from Eric Christensen, design principal at civil people problems engineering and planning. He said one of the things that surprised him about his getting his license is how expensive insurance is and thinking about how to limit liability. So if you are someone who's going to get your engineering license and you haven't done that yet, these are things to consider. Once you have that license and you start signing and sealing plans and specifications, you're liable for that. And if something happens on one of your projects, whether it was your error or not, most likely there's going to be a lawsuit involved and you're going to be part of that. So you need to think about that. I know a lot of engineers say, well, this is great. Once I get my license, I'll just start my own company and I'll grow my own engineering company. But there's costs involved with insurance. There's just a lot of liability. You have to be careful to protect yourself and separate if it's just you and your company separate it from maybe your family and things of that nature and how you can do that. And I'm not certainly not a lawyer. You'd have to contact the lawyer to help you with that. But it's something that we often don't think about. We think about the letters PE after our name. We think about maybe getting a salary increase because of that. We think of it as maybe being a prestigious thing in your career. But we don't think about the liabilities and the risks that can be associated with it. And believe me, I'm not saying that that should demotivate you or prevent you from seeking your PE license. To me, obtaining your PE license is one of the best things you can do if not the best thing you can do in your career. And I even like to be broad with that, meaning that if you think you might never use it, I would still get it if you can. Because it's so valuable and you don't know when you might need it. But you do have to remember to consider liability. So it's a great one by Eric there. And the last one that I want to feature here is from Modeste, Muhere, project engineer at Bergman. I was surprised by the level of trust and responsibility that came with the qualifications. It really registered that I have a direct impact to the public through my professional skills. This understanding inspires me to stay competent in the performance of my duty as a qualified professional engineer. Powerful words. And this is actually I saved this one for last because this is the feeling that I had when I got my license. When I saw that stamp and the seal that I received in the mail, I kind of thought to myself like, wow, I'm really responsible for whatever I sign and seal. If I sign and seal a project that's going to service hundreds or thousands of people, I'm stamping it. I'm sealing it. And they're putting their trust and responsibility in me. Again, whether they know it or not. Or a city or a government is putting that responsibility in me or my company, if I'm working for, let's say a private consultant, or if you're an engineer in government, you're doing the work as a professional engineer. It's a serious thing. I mean, I've seen people go to jail for abusing it. If you mess up, people's lives are at stake. So kind of the gravity of this is big time. And I think that we need to also realize that. So I'm not trying to present you with things to scare you from seeking your PE license. As I said over and over again, I think it's one of the best things that you can do. And if the PE license really isn't the right license for you, then find something that is and go after it. But I do just want to emphasize that it's a big responsibility. I've written about this before and I've gotten a lot of feedback on it, right? It's like that line with power comes responsibility. And that's kind of what you get with your engineering license. So I want to just personally thank the National Society of Professional Engineers for all the work that they've done in starting and growing National Engineers Week. I think it's very helpful for the profession and the industry and ultimately the public that the industry serves. I also want to thank all other associations that have been involved in marketing it. I know the American Society of Civil Engineers and I'm a very active member in has also done quite a bit around Engineers Week. So a big thanks to all of them. And I hope that you enjoyed the episode. I hope it made you think about what you can do as a licensed professional engineer if you are one or maybe even inspires you to seek one out because you do have the power to do that. So I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Engineering Career Coach podcast. I wish you a happy National Engineers Week here in the US. Please subscribe on our YouTube channel as we put out these videos on a weekly basis and we hope that we can continue to help you engineer your own success. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please leave your comments and your questions in the comments section below this video. Also if you'd like to view the full show notes for this episode, visit engineeringmanagementinstitute.org or see the link in the video description. There you will find the key points discussed in today's episode as well as links to any of the resources websites or books mentioned during the episode. Until next time I wish you the best in all your engineering career endeavors.