Applying for CEng - a personal story...

Alice Miller, University of Glasgow

Eighteen months ago I began my journey towards achieving my CEng qualification. As a mature candidate who had taken a rather unconventional route into the field of engineering, I was not a simple case. However, I can now happily wave the certificate in my hand! This is an account of the stages involved in the process, and my own personal experiences along the way.

Although my PhD (1989) is in mathematics, I converted to Computing Science via a Daphne Jackson fellowship in 2001. In the meantime I had worked overseas, raised a family (to school age) and taken a series of short-term (undergraduate and adult education) teaching jobs, with a little research on the side, to "keep my hand in". Since then I have become a full time, permanent lecturer at the University of Glasgow. In 2003 I took part in a local mentorship scheme (LAWN, part of the Athena project).

Which engineering body...

My mentor suggested I apply for CEng via the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE). I had never considered such a course of action, but on reflection I decided to apply. My 3 main reasons for applying were:

Professional development (I liked the thought of having letters after my name, and thought it would look good on my c.v.)

Because my PhD was in mathematics, I wanted a professional qualification related to my new field .

My area of research is "Formal Methods". This involves proving that computer systems are correct using mathematical means. The area is often sneered upon by fellow computing scientists as not being real computing (no diodes involved!) If I could convince the IEE that I was not only a computing scientist, but an engineer to boot, then I could silence these critics!

To become a chartered engineer, you must first become a member of a nominated engineering institution. My membership of the IEE involved filling in a form which I downloaded from the web (I had tried filling it in online but lost the information several times!) As well as providing details of employment history and qualifications gained, attestation had to be included from a supporter, together with subscription fees and copies of degree certificates etc. My membership was confirmed in July 2003.

Formal requrements....

To be awarded a CEng in the UK, you have to convince the engineering council that you satisfy 3 criteria: suitable academic qualifications, sufficient (engineering) experience and the appropriate level of training.

I could easily satisfy the first of these requirements by providing (further) copies of my degree certificates. I sent these off for assessment straight away and soon received a letter asking for further details. I did not fully understand what was being asked for so spoke to an IEE representative on the phone. After a friendly chat in which I answered a few casual questions it was agreed that it would be too difficult for me to provide some of the documentation they requested so many years after I had actually been awarded my degree (examination transcriptions for example!) I was therefore not required to provide any additional information and I shortly received a letter stating that I had satisfied the qualifications part of the CEng requirement.

The other two requirements were not so straightforward. Applicants with an engineering degree or those working within a (non-academic) engineering institution naturally collect suitable training certificates in the course of their career. My situation was very different. I needed to gather examples of previous experience that would demonstrate my "training" (although a lot of my new knowledge was self-taught) and responsible experience.

I achieved this (thanks to advice from my mentor!) by attaching a modified c.v. to my application form which included a "training" section and a "responsibilities" section, each about one and half pages long. (I then merely stated "see attached c.v." in the relevant boxes on the application form.)

In the training section I recorded, in chronological order, the training undertaken as part of my PhD (research techniques, presentation skills etc.) and during my Daphne Jackson (and subsequent) fellowship(s) (attending undergraduate courses, staff development courses, self-training) . The responsibilities section was structured in a similar way and detailed all of my responsibilities associated with teaching (course construction, supervision, examination preparation) and research (workshop organisation, research group convenor, programme committee member etc.) It took a lot of effort to collect together the information this way (and it seemed unnatural to keep writing "I was responsible for…, I was responsible for….") but eventually I had what amounted to a fairly convincing document!

Pitfalls....

One mistake I made in filling in my application form (to which I attached my modified c.v.) was ticking a box in answer to the question "are you applying by the mature candidate scheme". This scheme applies to candidates "without a degree and aged over 35". As I am over 35, and always conscious of my relatively advanced years, I ticked the box (although I do have a degree). This mistake would significantly delay my application in the final stages.

Oddly enough, even before I had submitted my application, I received a letter from the IEE stating that I had satisfied the requirements of the training regulations, and therefore only had to satisfy the responsibility regulations. I can only assume that my original membership application had contained enough information for this assessment.

I submitted my application form in December 2003. I was finally called for an interview, at the IEE in Glasgow, in August 2004. (I had heard nothing from the IEE in the meantime, but had rung them a couple of times and been assured that my application was proceeding.)

Getting through the interview....

The interview was not too daunting. There were 3 (male) interviewers: one was acting as convenor, one an academic engineer, and one an industrial engineer. Although I had been led to believe that the interview was to assess whether I satisfied the requirements related to responsibilities, the questions focused more on why I considered myself an engineer, and why I wanted the CEng qualification. (Fortunately I had undergone a (rather hilarious!) mock interview with my mentor, a few weeks previously, so was prepared for the sort of question to expect. Also, I must say that the academic engineer on the interview panel seemed very sympathetic and rephrased some of my more stuttering answers in more flattering terms!) The interview lasted about 45 minutes and I felt that I had been quite strenuously tested by it. I could not have predicted at the time whether I had satisfied the requirements (I suspected that I might be asked to resubmit in a few years time when I had more concrete examples of professional responsibility.)

Feedback...

A month after my interview I received a letter from the IEE stating that I had satisfied the responsibilities requirement (i.e. passed the interview!) However, the letter proceeded to inform me that, as I was applying via the mature candidates scheme, I still had to fully satisfy the educational requirements (via a lengthy technical report followed by a further interview). I was extremely disappointed, and nearly gave up with my application altogether. I could not face preparing the report (although I could have possibly pasted together information from research papers, it had to be described in "generally accessible terms", which would have required a lot of effort) or undergoing another interview. Luckily I rang the IEE to check the information and discovered that a mistake had been made (due to my ticking the offending "mature candidate scheme" box on my original application) and I did fully satisfy the requirements for CEng! However, I would have to wait another month for the next meeting of the UK Engineering Council before my registration could be officially approved.

And finally..its drinks all around!.

Six weeks later (mid October) I received official confirmation that I had satisfied all of the requirements for CEng and, once my registration fees had been received I could finally add the letters CEng to my name.