First, allow me to apologize. Eight months have passed since my last post and no one would be blamed assuming that this blog was abandoned. The reasons for the hiatus are a combination of significant life events (some sad, some happy, including the birth of a P. Eng. Applicant Jr.!) and, admittedly, procrastination.
That being said, progress has been made! When we last talked, I was still rambling on about why someone in my position might or might not apply for their P.Eng. and what the requirements are. That’s all well and good, but what about me? After all, a primary motivator for this blog was for me to complete the application process. Well, I am happy to report to you the following milestones:
- February 2014 – Application submitted to PEO
- March 2014 – Application confirmed by PEO
- April 2014 – Referees receive reference forms from PEO
Of course, the only milestone up there that involved effort on my part is the first one, submitting the application. Putting together the application is nothing to sneeze at, though, and I’ve now “walked the walk” so that I can relate my experience to you.
Let’s examine this handy application checklist provided by the PEO* for what your application needs:
- Completed & signed Application Form
- Proof of Identity (photocopy, both sides where applicable)
- Canadian birth certificate
- Canadian citizenship card or certificate
- Permanent resident card
- Form IMM 1000 of Record of Landing (if card not available)
- Application Fee ($360 + HST = $407, cheque or money order)
- Check if your employer will cover some of these costs!
- Original transcripts for all degrees listed on PEO application
- These need to be sent directly to the PEO from the educational institution (check with the registrar at your school)
- This will likely cost you and additional $10-$20 per transcript
- Pre-graduation Experience Record
- Although I did have pre-graduation experience (through co-op), I decided not to list it. This was because I had the required 48 months of experience without it and I didn’t want the awkwardness of contacting co-op supervisors from a decade ago to ask if they remembered my 4-month stint with them.
- Experience Record
- Documents your (minimum) 48 months of engineering experience
- This is the big one. Expect additional blog posts in the near future detailing how I went about creating this document.
- Referee Contact Information
- Include names, addresses, and professional license/registration numbers
*You will recall that I live and work in Ontario, thus my application is to the PEO. So while the process in your province is likely very similar, make sure you check with the licensing body that applies to you.
I tackled my application by writing the experience record first. This took by far the most time; about 90% of the total effort. Next was contacting all my referees (I had 5 in total) to make sure that they were on-board. After that, it was mostly paperwork: filling out the application form, ensuring that transcripts were underway, making photocopies of the important documents, and cutting a $339 cheque (fees have increased, it’s $408 now). Once I had checked everything twice, it all went in a big manila envelope and was mailed off to the PEO.
A few weeks after submitting the application, the follow e-mail arrived in my inbox:
Dear _______:
PEO File #123456789
Thank you for your recent application for licence and for submitting the necessary documents to allow your application to proceed to the next stage.
I have been assigned to manage your file throughout the licensure process and would be pleased to answer any questions you might have. The file number shown above should be referred to in any correspondence or inquiry.
In order to proceed with your P.Eng. application, you are required to write the Professional Practice Exam. Your first opportunity to write the Professional Practice Exam (PPE) will be August 2014 and you must successfully complete the exam by December 2015
…
My application was official – I had a File # and a real person assigned to my P. Eng. application! A few weeks after that, I started receiving word from my referees notifying me that they had received their documentation from the PEO. And that’s where we are today. I expect to receive the application package for the PPE in June and after that, it’s time to study (ugh).
If there any questions about the process, please feel free to leave a comment – I’ll do my best to respond. The next few posts will detail how I went about writing my Experience Record.