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CEng Registration

I am self-employed how can I get professionally registered? I need to complete my application for chartered engineer CEng.

  • I would recommend getting in touch with a Professional Registration Adviser. If you go to https://www.theiet.org/career/professional-registration/getting-help-with-your-application/find-a-professional-registration-advisor/ you can search for a PRA who will be able to guide you through the process and also advise you on your application.

    Alasdair

  • I'd follow Alasdair's advice in speaking to a professional registration advisor but first I would recommend using Career Manager, and completing as much of the application as you can before sending it to the PRA for review so they have a good understanding of what you do.

    Career Manager has embedded Guidance on how to complete this - it should be your personal story, so written using the first person (I, my) and active verbs (I designed, I lead, I influenced, I negotiated, I developed, I tested etc).  You should also try and cover all of the required competences (as outlined in the UKSPEC - available on the main IET site at: www.theiet.org/CEng)

    The PRA will then be able to help ensure that you have made a good case for your application.

  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    I have been trying for over 9 months to be registered as a Chartered Engineer. I have been an I.Eng since 1975 - thats 45+ years. I have 53 years engineering experience within the MoD & defence industries which, you would have thought, would qualify me for C.Eng. But NO! My application has been turned down for unknown reasons - I've been through a PRA who advised me that I'd be certain to achieve Chartered status and a lot of help that was. I am fed u[p with the IET requirement for supporting evidence; I've advised them that I am almost 70, most, in fact almost all of my compatriates are either dead, retired or senile!!!! The evidence is NOT available. So I have found the IET route to chartered status a total waste of time - may be ok for you youngsters but it is not at all kind to oldies like me. I shall not take the IET route but register via a far more mature-engineer friendly path. The IET? Total waste of time and effort!!!!
  • 4Xample: 
    My application has been turned down for unknown reasons - I've been through a PRA who advised me that I'd be certain to achieve Chartered status and a lot of help that was. 

    Without getting into anything specific to this case (which would be inappropriate on an open forum), there are a couple of general points here which may help others in a similar position:

    If an application is turned down, the applicant should be assigned a PRA to advise. That PRA will have access to all the information regarding the case, and so can advise what would need to be shown additionally for the application to be successful. (I've deliberately written it like that that rather than “the PRA can say why it was rejected”. As that assigned PRA we have to be very careful to maintain the confidentiality of everybody involved when this happens, which can be quite delicate!)

    I also think you can request full details of the review of your application, but I'll admit I can't find that now on this website?

    And the second point: I would hope the PRA did not “advise that the applicant would be certain to achieve Chartered Status”, that's totally down to the assessment panels to decide. As PRAs we can give our opinion, but all of us with a bit of experience will have learned the hard way that assessments don't always go the way we'd expect, so we have to be careful never to say anything that would be taken as a promise. After all, the whole point of this process is to make sure that it's not just one person's opinion. But of course we do sometimes slip up while talking to applicants, or words get taken the wrong way, so I'd just say to candidates generally (just as with exams, job applications, lottery winnings, etc etc): don't believe you're going to be successful, whatever anyone says, until you have the paperwork in your hands!

    Thanks,

    Andy

  • What is this “more mature-engineer friendly path”?

    You can only apply through one of the engineering institutions, not directly to the Engineering Council.  So that means following the process of whichever institution you've joined.

    There's nothing to stop you transferring your IEng to another institution, and then re-applying for CEng through their process.  But don't assume it will be easier - just different.  Other institutions may be even less friendly to someone who doesn't have exactly the right degrees.

  • …and given that the IET process is simply “show us that now (and for the last couple of years) you demonstrate all the competences for CEng / IEng / EngTech then we will award it to you, whatever your age and experience and however you got there”, I'm not sure how much more “mature friendly” (or indeed “youth friendly”) you could make it!

    But it does need to be appreciated that none of these are long service awards, this criteria cuts both ways: however much experience you have you still need to show you meet the competences.

    Cheers, Andy 

  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member

    4Xample: 
    I've advised them that I am almost 70, most, in fact almost all of my compatriates are either dead, retired or senile!!!!

    I think you'll find that's also the criteria for being on the review panel. ?

    Once an engineer has reached the level of maturity in their career, there is no longer any need for them to be judged by other engineers, companies or IET/EC. It is perfectly possible for a CEng - junior or senior - to seek technical or consultancy advise from a senior IEng, or even an MIET. 

    In addition, I would say that you're getting a much better deal remaining as IEng, than if you applied for CEng. For a start, there are more letters in Incorporated than in Chartered, and subscription fees are a little cheaper. That sort of puts into question whether CEngs are business savy? Should be charging more for more letters!

    I'm of course an SEng which was a title given to me by Mary Poppins when I was a child. She asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up? I replied that I wanted to an Engineer. She said, We'll, you can be a…..Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Engineer. ?

    The more letters, the higher the status!

    Hope that helps.

  • Any candidate can ask for a copy of their file and this will include all the comments made, decision making etc.   There is nothing hidden. Just ask for it. 

  • Thanks Gerard, I was sure that was the case, I just couldn't actually find it written down anywhere!

  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member

    That may help younger engineers, as they have ‘time’ to make the ajustments necessary to meet the requirements for CEng, but I don't see how it helps matured experienced engineers who are in the ‘over 50s’ age group? There should be a category for senior engineers to have the opportunity to achieve CEng registration. I am also perplexed why the EC is only interested in an applicant's experience ‘in the past 5 years’ and not earlier? What if an applicant were previously employed as a ‘fishmonger’, or responsible for recommending ‘the wrong cladding’  to blocks of flats, or were guests at ‘Her Majesty’s pleasure'. I am really surprised that not a single CEng has raised this flag?