Action | Develop regulations for a mandatory continuing education requirement for architect, professional engineer, and land surveyor licenses. |
Stage | Proposed |
Comment Period | Ended on 5/2/2008 |
I have been a practicing engineer for almost 15 years. I have attended MANY seminars and workshops over the years. Some were great; most were useless. I try to attend seminars that are relevant to specific work that I do. Some years I go to numerous seminars per year. Sometimes it may a number of years before I find a seminar appropriate to my engineering work. Requiring continuing education would require me to attend and expend significant dollars on seminars that are not the least bit useful, and such expenditures will not serve to enhance public safety. I spend considerable time and money on self-study; how would that effort be quantified?
If such a program is implemented, it should be extremely liberal in regard to what types of subjects are considered valid ascontinuing education. Engineers don't just need engineering/phiscal theory information to do their jobs well. They need business, communication, and negotiation skills as well.
Ultimately, I am not in favor of REQUIRED continuing education.
Steven M. McLain, P.E.