As the civil engineering labor market only gets more competitive, there is one clear way to set yourself above the rest of the field: ASCE’s Civil Engineering Certification.
Founded by ASCE, CEC is the only professional credential developed by civil engineers for civil engineering.
It recognizes civil engineers who have demonstrated advanced knowledge and skills in a particular specialty area, bringing more value to civil engineering stakeholders.
And this year CEC has launched a new specialty certification in pipeline engineering–water.
Warren Green, P.E., BC.PLW, M.ASCE, vice chair of the CEC Utility Engineering & Surveying Certification Board, recently spoke with Civil Engineering Source about the new certification and why getting your BC.PLW would be valuable.
Civil Engineering Source: Can you tell us why this was such an important specialty area for ASCE to develop a certification in?
Warren Green: The public utility industry, waterworks, and sanitary works are dealing with aging infrastructure. A significant portion of the system is actually buried underground. And it is becoming increasingly important for the industry to address aging underground infrastructure.
To address that in a more economical and effective manner, the engineers that are doing that work need to fully understand the complexities of piping systems and the design, not only of the system, but of the pipe.
And ASCE, by pursuing this and developing a certification for pipeline water engineers, is taking a big step toward developing both current and future engineers who need to address this aging infrastructure challenge.
Source: How does this kind of certification set an individual engineer apart from his or her peers?
Green: It sets these individuals apart when they go to talk to clients and the client has a challenge that needs to be addressed. That client, if they are talking to two engineers and one of them is a board-certified subject-matter expert in pipe, they may say, “You know, maybe I need somebody with a little more expertise to deal with this problem.” They’re more likely to hire the board-certified engineer.
That client doesn’t want to hire a less competent engineer for critical infrastructure. The last thing they want to do is spend a bunch of money trying to fix something and it doesn’t get fixed.
Source: I know you played a key role in developing the exam for this certification. How did you approach that task?
Green: Developing the test in the certification program, along with the Pipeline Engineering–Water Body of Knowledge, was a team effort by a number of pipeline experts from around the country. Some of the discussion was challenging, because you get a bunch of experts in a room, they’re not always going to agree.
So it was a matter of listening to everybody, pulling together their thoughts and then sometimes making hard decisions. And we ended up with what I think is a very successful program.
Learn more about CEC’s new pipeline engineering–water certification.
