AMI better than you?

Question:
Why are we engineers, graduates and students of engineering so sold on the idea of becoming Chartered?  Did you know that there are other qualifications which may be better suited to your talents? For example Incorporated Engineer and Engineering Technician, have you given them enough thought I wonder...

"Goals. There's no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There's no telling what you can do when you believe in them. There's no telling what will happen when you act upon them." Jim Rohn [entrepreneur]

The way I see the world, is that goal setting or planning the stepping stones to fulfil your dreams are the best ways to actively chase them down, and ultimately achieve them. My life has been a maelstrom of these types of encounters. In stops and starts. Yet, my ambition plateaued around 5 years ago.

I became professionally qualified as an AIE [Average Incorporated Engineer - don't worry, it's a term i use for almost everyone]. After that I felt that I could puff my chest out with pride, and then joined a long list of ex mentors and ex bosses who inspired me to achieve this career milestone. As a result I was offered more work opportunities. No surprise there.

The plateau I spoke of came about when I found myself in a lessened state of hunger for the next obvious goal. You see my plan had always been to become Chartered. This had AND has not changed. What HAD changed in me was the my attitude towards why I was striving for this level of achievement.

For the first time in my career, I was experiencing professional prejudice. Strangely though, before I had been given my qualification, I was still just another experienced graduate, doing the job of an engineer.

What happened was, I had set out my stall as an AIE, and suddenly my very presence was being scrutinised by other engineers [mainly of a Chartered status...]. This feeling was not palatable at all.

As it turns out, the most influential mentors in my professional life were all AMIStructE qualified. They were technically marvellous, but none of them regretted not [or even half heartedly] shooting for the C.Eng status. Yet they wished it for my future. Why? Were they not confident in there own abilities? Yes of course they were. They were great.

Did they see themselves as any less of an engineer? No. They managed the day to day activities of busy engineering offices, continuously adding to their knowledge, whilst finding the time to pass on their technical mastery to the newly qualified AND experienced engineers alike.

Again, why would they feel a need to push those who they were responsible for towards becoming Chartered? I mean, If it didn't prevent them from doing their job... why is it that they wished something different from their prodigies?

I think that I know the answer. Or to put it more accurately; my experience and research has led me to a conclusion.

C.Eng, it offers more opportunities. The qualification of C.Eng is well marketed across the globe, and represents a higher level of professional qualification than of Eng.Tech or I.Eng. So why would you not want to go for it? If the option was available to you of course.

You have to realise that in a world where an engineer only understands what an engineer does, a certain 'level', an order or ranking helps non-engineers appreciate our hard work and gives us a 'status'. C.Eng is a vehicle to market engineers to the world.

It is important to note at this stage that no one should disregard the other obvious benefits from this qualification, which are; a heightened sense of achievement, higher paid and enjoys more employment opportunities. These are all very important considerations for graduates as well as experienced engineers.

It is a thing of beauty, the C.Eng status. In a world full of competent workers, our customers are crying out for the tagline that says 'fully charged, elite, and responsible expertise here' - the Chartership status is a marketers wet dream. A complete and unadulterated success. Interestingly, so successful is the marketing, that it appears to have brain washed some of its own members into believing the hype too...

The C.Eng status is essential for engineering. Look how it has captured the imagination of the public, marvel at how students and graduates are physically, mentally, and emotionally charged with becoming a Chartered Engineer. Nothing less will do!

The truth is that the core requirements of my institution [IStructE] are marginally greater for Chartership status than Incorporated. However, it does not qualify that a practicing Associate Member of the IStructE or ICE is any less experienced or capable in their job than say a Chartered Engineer. It just means that they have not gotten a qualification to show this. That realisation is important.

A qualification exemplar is essential to our profession, as it highlights great competency, responsibility and excellence. These terms are not incompatible with other qualifications such as Eng.Tech and I.Eng. though. Sure, we do not expect clients, recruiters and the public at large to understand that we are all essentially the same, measured only by time served and the quality of our portfolios.... but we do expect other engineers to.

We expect our own kind, at the very least give us our dues, earned.

Now this works both ways. For example, I do not think that every Chartered Engineer is going to be a walking ego, with little else to add to a project apart from overly inflated hourly rates. They are useful. Technically and politically proficient. That is all.

I essentially take engineers as I see them.

I do however believe that there is a huge barrier to the success of an ACE [an Average Chartered Engineer], and I would like to share this with you.

Whilst you are are still working your way to C.Eng status, you are hungry for the accolade. When you finally become qualified, you are hungry to prove yourself amongst your peers.

This feeling will inevitably diminish as you age, and you will find either your niche or finally reach the extents of your particular limiting beliefs. You are only as good as your training, experience, and ambition allows you to be.

Unless of course that you are a Level 5 Leader [save that for another time].

As an I.Eng, you appear to be in is constant state of flux. Never quite passing the finish line. You feel like you are on a journey and that the ending this journey will not be a good thing. Knowledge is essential to a good career, but learning how to pass on this knowledge is essential to a GREAT career.

C.Eng, will for the foreseeable future be the highest level of engineering qualification available [at least in the UK], and the most desirable. The less obtainable that it is, the more desirable it remains. The more coveted and rare the title, the more marketable it becomes. The public has been sold.

If you are Chartered, please, do not make the mistake of thinking that you have passed the finishing line quite yet. You are still average like the rest of us. Infact, you could very well be of less use than an AIE [Average Incorporated Engineer] who really loves what they do! Possibly.

Our abilities are directly proportional to our experience gained and application of skills learned.

The hype is created so that we can market our talents to our clients, our employers. Not you.


Engine[er]