huangyhg

best state for p.e. reciprocity
is there any one state who's p.e./s.e. license is recognized by all others? i am in the process of obtaining civil and structural licensure in arizona, but if i do any work in other states in the future, it would be nice not to have to take their exams, and just obtain licensure via reciprocity.
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what discipline are you in? your tag says civil. most states allow cross reciprocity. callifornia does, but requires an extra 5 hour exam. for your discipline, i don't think many of the other states will be a problem. the best thing is to simply get on the websites, or call the boards, of each state you suspect you will eventually apply to.
i practice both civil and structural engineering, and want to obtain licenses in both areas. do all other states reciprocate a colifornia license without additional testing?
california will reciprocate for civil. however, jae is right on target, they do require two (2) two and one half hour exams. one in all surveying and the second is purely seismic.
i had a fiend of mine who was licensed as se in florida (took structural exam). he had difficult time in ca because their did not recognize his se since their se is a higher category. ca se usually comes after few years being a pe plus additional exams. ca se signs and seals certain types of facilities or building such as schools. ca se requires additional experience and testing over and above the ncees pe exam and their 5-hour exams. although my friend has degree from mit in civil, he had to do extra paper work to demonstrate that fl 8 hours se were equivalent to the civil exam. that was a mess.
i think ncees offers a tabulated form comparison all states regarding their pe requirements. i suggest that you consult that web site. here is the link:
ok lufti - now you have my curiousity - your friend in fl somehow convinced ca that the fl se exam (se-1 or se-2?) was ok to substitute for the ca 5 hour seismic/surveying exam?
jae, i don't know how a single exam in florida is equivalent to the ca-pe, which is altogether different from the ca-se requirements!
i also wasn't aware that fl had a se license.
regards,
qshake
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jae,
no, i did not imply that. he still had to take the 5-hour exams, which he hated because he knew zilch about surveying. but that is another story for another day.
to get his ca civil pe by reciprocity, he had to show that he took ncees 8 hour civil pe, which he did not. he took the se-1 exam. that was the problem he had. of course all was rectified after several letters and phone calls.
by the way, the story behind the 5-hour exams is interesting. a civil engineer who became a state congressman in ca thought it would be a good idea to require all civil engineers in ca to have tested knowledge in surveying and seismic due to their relevance in civil engineering. he pushed the legislation through and here we are.

lutfi
technically the term is "commity", and the ncee exam is recognized by all states as far as i know. however, ca apperently has additional exam requirements whic must be fulfilled. as far as i know only the exam transfer. you still have to make the full apllication to the next state. however, ncee has a uniform application, which is recognized by many (but not all) states. what this means is you do one application, one set of reference letters, which all go to ncee and they forward to the state you want. the advantage is that say next year you want apply for alicense in another state, if it recognizes the ncee aplication, you just write to ncee and the send the package to the state board. so if you are apllying for a license, i would check it out. it wont save time on this one, but the next could be a breeze.
go ahead and get your license in az. then work on ca. i think once you have it, wa and maybe nv have similar requirements but should recognize the ca stuff okay.
when you start on your ca license, get a "council record book" from ncees. this will vastly simplify the process elsewhere, and lets you use one set of references for multiple states.
lufti, you mention certain things that ca se seals. what i found in dealing with engineers there, is that there are a few things (buildings over 200' high, for example) that were required to be sealed by se's. but in practice, it seemed that most owners expected any structural or semi-structural work to be sealed by se's, regardless of whether they fell under the requirements of the law. i could have gotten my me license there, and legally designed storage tanks, but most owners wanted a se seal even on tanks. this was similar in wa and nv, as i recall, and not so in or. it's kind of a mess out there.
ncees have a program by which you establish a record of your first pe lic. then for a fee you can use that record to apply for lic. in other states. ca may not use this but most others do. the info is also at the ncees site under records
ca, wa and nv all have se licenses and all require directly supervisored experience in those states. in other words you have to have worked in that state for a licensed se who supervised your work. i guess in the rare case that an se who moved from ca to another state could supervise a se candidate outside ca.
this noted in not so many words on the registration application documentation and seems to be geared toward limiting the amount of out-state practicing ses. i guess that if i lived in that state, i would be a proponent of that process too.
my company has headquarters in ca and it is still difficult to have supervisor input on the application unless you work directly under them.
regards,
qshake
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