Emily Swist
I am a freshman engineering student in the Swanson School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, pursuing Bioengineering.
My Future as an Engineer
To become licensed as a professional engineer, you must complete a four-year college degree, work under a Professional engineer for at least four years, pass two intensive competency exams, and earn a license from the state's board. Then to retain their license, PEs must continually improve their skills and learn throughout their careers. A PE license basically just gives you that edge over other engineers. It is proof to clients, employers, colleagues, and yourself, that you are a competent engineer that is safe to practice and solve the world's problems. Engineers have a huge impact on society by designing almost everything we interact with daily. You wouldn't want just anybody designing bridges that thousands of cars will drive over or medical devices that will go in our bodies. The license proves that we can safely improve society, and not be causing more disasters instead.
Engineers play a key role in the advancement and protection of society, so the public must always be the most important aspect of their projects. Some people in this field are not ethical and their motives may be money and greed. It may be hard to fight them, but as an engineer, your duty is to make the best decisions based on your conscious and make decisions that will benefit the general public. As long as engineers stick to their morals and stick to their promise as a professional engineer, they will be successful.