<p>Do Civil Engineers have to have their license in order to work for the government, whether it be for the state or fed.</p>
<p>You should reread Corbett’s post in your last thread about this. It outlined everything pretty well I thought, but here are a few big points:
- Nobody expect you to have your license for your first job.
- Some may expect you to pursue it, but many people don’t pass the exam. It ain’t that easy.
- The beauty of government jobs is the job security. It’s not like they can fire you because you can’t get your PE. For the state agency I worked for, after a one year probationary period, they wouldn’t be able to fire me unless I screwed up big time. And for something to qualify, it would probably be a criminal act anyway, so you’d have bigger things to worry about. The only downside is that you just won’t get promoted to a position that requires your PE stamp of approval.</p>
<p>Honestly, I don’t know why you’re so concerned about licensure at this point. You’re likely at least a decade away from even being able to qualify to take the exam. As others have said, many don’t even get their licensure until their 30s. I know one who was probably pushing 60 when he got his.</p>
<p>I know one guy who’s a very prominent engineer but stubborn as a mule. He’s got a couple of friends who really trust his work who he pulls in on projects that need a stamp, and they’ll stamp it, but he’s refused to get his PE license as a matter of principle. He thinks the whole system is stupid.</p>
<p>I… don’t recommend this course of action.</p>
<p>Still, don’t worry about licensure yet. It’s hard to screw up licensure requirements at the point where you’re at right now… Just work towards a degree. They’ll still pay you even if you don’t have a license, so you’ll be able to earn money, and it’s not something you’ll need to be concerned with yet. Plenty of concerns with passing classes and whatnot without having to think about PE licenses yet.</p>