[QUOTE=bingobob777;9508003] No it's a legal requirement. If you are not qualified to sign off a design you cannot do so, to do so and then you and your company will be personally liable in the event of an accident as your PI will be invalid.

[QUOTE=jimbo_d;9508138] I realise all that and didn't say anything to the contrary, doesn't mean the law is correct

If don't have an Engineering degree you are NOT an Engineer. You can't sign off on drawings and therefore are not an engineer. The ridiculous Job titles that the UK have don't transfer over here.

People who don't have an engineering degree and who think they are an engineer are in complete loser denial. Calling yourself something that you are not is one of the most British things out there and is laughed at extensively in Australia. If I worked as a nurse and didn't have a nursing degree well then I'm not a nurse.

TBH unless you are on big O&G or mining projects (especielly in Perth) you are not really an engineer if you work on civil projects...more a designer.

It's funny seeing tradies on here call themselves engineers.

Total and utter bollocks as usual

A bit of paper doesn't make you an engineer. Anyone who thinks that is a complete loser. My industry is full of people at senior level who don't have a degree and aren't chartered, they are infinitely more capable and competent than the legion of plebs who think they're something because they are good at studying.

The best engineers are the ones with a background in design and construction, a masters degree in civil engineering doesn't give you the insight in how something is actually built.

Exactly. There are loads of guys who are chartered and don't have degrees - when you've been doing it for 20+ years and your institute gives you chartered status, then that's all that matters. Even then, there are loads of guys who are not chartered, nor have a degree, who are hugely competent.

Engineers Australia is a mickey mouse outfit anyway - I'll take the opinion of my institute, the IEE (now IET) over them anytime

Hey, I'm not disagreeing with you. I only applied for RPEQ 2 years ago because not having it was limiting what I could do, as more and more clients are making it a requirement. I've been designing high pressure gas pipelines for the last 30 years without being registered.

It's more to do with insurance than anything else. Since engineers are likely to be sued if something goes wrong, we all need professional indemnity insurance of some sort and no insurance company is going to pay out if we are not working in strict compliance with the legislation - which means RPEQ in Queensland.

Having an engineering degree may be a starting point for being an engineer, but I have yet to come across a graduate straight out of Uni who I would consider an engineer - given two-three years of experience and the good ones start to become useful, in that you can tell them what needs doing and rely on them to produce useful work without needing constant guiding. Some never manage to realise the difference between Uni engineering where getting the correct theoretical answer is important, and real-life engineering where getting the best possible result within a limited budget is of critical importance.

I'll take an engineer with lots of experience over a graduate with a degree any time. Many of my colleagues who are nationally respected in their profession don't have degrees - just like me. I have 40+ years experience instead.

+1. Never had much faith in them, and found they were obsessed with Australian Degrees. Show them anything from overseas and they get all cagy.

I didn't bother joining.

Me neither.

Mind you, I keep away from any organisation that forms itself, then offers some high sounding membership on completion of their own expensive course of crap.

The Australian institute of Management is a classic. No matter what your qualification, you cant be a member until you do their Mickey Mouse course.

Harvard MBA - no chance. AIM crap diploma, and you are in.

The Project Management groups are about the worst. The form some crap group, set exams, then for a fee offer "cheat sheets" to help you pass.

I tell the lot to get stuffed. Never stood in the way of me making a dollar.

I think this is a sign of the education establishment becoming too powerful.

I was at a seminar, sponsored by my company, yesterday at UWA Perth.

The dean of the University gave us a bit of spiel about how their degrees were better than the ones given out 10 or 20 years ago because now you need 3 years to do a Bachelors then 2 for a Masters. Total of 5 years before you're a qualified Engineer.

He also said one of the reasons is that gen Y now start Uni with very poor English and Maths so need remedial teaching for the first few months.

So now if you go to Uni as a bright student who is good at English and Maths your dragged down by the numbskulls that follow you and end up doing an extra 12 months to get something that used to take 4 years instead of 5.

So that's another 12 months of education that has to be paid for.


The days of coming up through the ranks are becoming harder and harder.

Keel

Apologies if this is a little off topic

As an IENG and MIET registered in the UK do I need to transfer to Oz or can I simply continue to pay my annual registration fee and then check out the local network wherever I move in Oz?

I reckon I can just carry, on but knowledge of someones first hand experience would be good

I'm MIET (although I prefer MIEE - I was pissed off when they changed) and have just continued to pay my annual fee by credit card every January. There are local branches of the IET in all the capital cities here - they are constantly inviting me to events that I never bother with!

Don't bother with Engineers Australia - they are a waste of space.

Cheers Had already decided to give EA the finger