jacckat8

Who do you think does the testing and inspection of bridges? Civil Engineers.

When you get your Professional Engineering license. You also get the PE stamp which allows you to approve public projects.

When you give your stamp of approval on a project then you're legally liable for it.

You can be sued for incompetence. Then, you have to go to court and defend yourself. Or, more commonly, your company will send a lawyer but you still may be called to testify.

The PE exam isn't only for Civil Engineers.

List of Engineering Disciplines that can take the PE exam:

- Agricultural and Biological Engineering - Architectural Engineering - Chemical - Civil - Control Systems - Electrical and Computer - Environmental - Fire Protection - Industrial and Systems - Mechanical - Metallurgical and Materials - Mining and Mineral Processing - Naval Architecture and Marine - Nuclear - Petroleum - Structural

It's a really hard task to compare engineering to plumbing.

I mean the board that licenses Civil Engineers, for example, should be very stringent. We don't live in buildings that aren't structurally sound or drive on half-assed bridges.

Professional Engineers hold themselves to an ethical standard that they're not even legally required to uphold, yet they still do because this organization keeps them in check.

You're only a professional engineer if you pass the PE exam.

You can't legally present yourself as a professional engineer without that license.