I had a problem on my path to becoming a PE. The Florida Board of Professional Engineers(FBPE) requires four years of verified, progressive engineering work experience under the supervision of a licensed PE.
A little background that I never knew until this road block came up along the journey. The PE license is neither required for employment consideration, nor to practice engineering at the national laboratory. They are exempt as they work in the national interest. More on that below. As a result, I had worked there for several years completely unaware of the PE license. The engineers there do not seek to obtain the license. There simply is no need.
By chance, one day a team lead joking told me that I wasn’t a “real engineer” in our lab and explained the license to me. If not for his voluntary divulgence, I wouldn’t have known that he was a PE. I worked directly with him for years at the labs. I knew him well. I know he would sign for me to cover this requirement. I had been trying for months to find him. He had retired a few years back and moved away. Poof, vanished into the ether. I asked everyone I knew at the labs for his contact info. Nobody had a working number or address for him. I even went as far as to run a skip trace on him. Then I sent an email and voicemail to every associated email address and phone number. Nothing (queue cricket noises).
I had to return to the well. Thankfully, I still have several friends at the labs. They are all practicing engineers, but none are PEs. I asked them all for help finding a PE that I had worked with directly at the labs. They turned up a small number of people that coincidentally had the license. Unfortunately, none of them overlapped my time at the labs.
I was screwed! I had four times the required experience as an practicing engineer. Yet, it seemed that I would be forced to work at some engineering firm as a 45 year old intern. Yikes! I had to figure this out some other way. It was time to get a bit litigious. Down the rabbit hole we go.
Although they don’t advertise this on their website, there is an exemption to the requirement for PE supervision for rare circumstances. It’s written in the Florida Administrative Code.
Chapter 61G15 Board of Professional Engineers Organization & Purpose
61G15‐20.002 (1)(b)(7) Experience should be gained under the supervision of a licensed professional engineer or, if not, an explanation should be made showing why the experience should be considered acceptable.
And there is a federal exemption, handed down to the states, for the the national labs and certain others. That is in the Florida Statutes.
471.003 Qualifications for practice; exemptions–
471.003(2)(j) Any defense, space, or aerospace company, whether a sole proprietorship, firm, limited liability company, partnership, joint venture, joint stock association, corporation, or other business entity, subsidiary, or affiliate, or any employee, contract worker, subcontractor, or independent contractor of the defense, space, or aerospace company who provides engineering for aircraft, space launch vehicles, launch services, satellites, satellite services, or other defense, space, or aerospace-related product or services, or components thereof.
This states that my work at the national lab will be legally recognized by the state of Florida as both engineering work and exempt from PE licensure,
However, the work must be verified by a practicing engineer in a supervisory role. This description is on the FBPE website.
Verification by Practicing Engineer In some circumstances, engineering work experience may be verified by qualified practicing engineers who have been supervising you. Some industries are allowed to have practicing engineers. A practicing engineer is exempt and not required to hold a PE license. Practicing engineers who verify engineering experience must also provide a copy of their engineering degree diploma to the FPBE office. The diploma must clearly state that it is for an engineering degree.
So I needed a supervisor from the labs with an engineering degree that was a practicing engineer during my working period to verify my work experience and provide diploma(s) to FBPE. All of that was much easier for me than finding a licensed PE at the labs!
Back to the well I went. I knew two practicing engineers well that were my direct managers. Both were currently in senior management positions at the labs. I asked for the favor. They both agreed to help.
I had chosen a path. It was time to lock it in.