How I am Getting my PE License After a Year and a Half Out of School

Take PE Exam in South Carolina, and take state specific tests in Georgia and getting licensed in a state 2500 miles away that I haven’t been to in 9 years, California. Each state has its own rules on when you can take the PE exam and when you can get your PE license.  I knew that I did not want to wait too long to take the PE exam because I did not want to forget all the information that I had learned when I was in school. I also wanted to get licensed as soon as possible so that I could put that I am a licensed Professional Engineer on my resume so I could apply for a new job. The only problem was that I was living in South Carolina and I did not have four years of experience yet. Luckily the South Carolina Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors allows you to take the test early and then just submit an application and a check when you get enough. Even with taking the exam early I still did not want to wait for four years of experience so I started looking into other states that I could take the exam and get licensed earlier.

I found out that California requires six years of experience to take the PE exam and get licensed. A bachelor’s degree from an ABET accredited school counts toward four years of experience and a master’s degree from an ABET accredited school counts toward one year of experience. With this I would only need one year of work experience so I decided that I would take the PE exam in California after one year of work. I started looking into the application process and talked to the California board and found out that I could apply for licensure in California and take the PE exam in another state and then just call and change the application type from a new applicant to a comity applicant since I would have already passed the PE exam in another state. I also found out that the CBT (Computer Based Tests) that California required to be passed were administered by a national company and I could take the test at any of their locations. So I opted to take the tests in Augusta, GA which is about 30 minutes away.

This was great news as South Carolina does not charge an application fee for admittance to the PE exam for early examination. I would be able to save the cost of an airplane ticket, a rental car and a hotel (well I may have been able to stay with a friend in California and then I wouldn’t have needed a hotel and possibly not a rental car either).  I also would not need to try and transport all of my study materials to California and I wouldn’t have to take extra time off of work so that I could fly out west and get jet lagged.

It took a little bit of coordination but now I will be able to get licensed as soon as possible and I didn’t have to go to California where I am going to be licensed.

Saving Money is Costing you more Money

Why saving money is costing you more money.

Many of us have grown up being told to save money. Why are we always told to save our money and not spend it? It is a Scarcity Mentality. You are taught that there is only so much money and you need to hoard it all so that you will have some when you need it. I am not saying that you should not be saving money. I actually agree that you need to same money because you need to be ready for hard times that might come, but I also think that just saving all the time is not the best practice.

I think that you should try to save up 6-12 months of expenses so that if you lose a job or some other large event happens you will not be financially stressed. But how will I saving money cost me more money? If you are saving money you are probably putting the money in a checking or savings account. Most checking and savings accounts are not earning a very much interest. Even C.D. accounts aren’t earning very much interest. You could put that money to use somewhere else that would otherwise be saving in something that would give you a higher return on investment.

So what should I do with the money instead of putting it in bank? First of all let’s see how leaving your money in a savings account could be losing you money. For example…if you are earning 1% on the money you have in your savings account and inflation is 2% per year, you will be losing 1% of your savings per year that you leave it in this account. You can see this concept if you think about how this year you might be able to go to a restaurant and buy a hamburger for $5. Next year that same hamburger might cost $5.10 but the $5 that you left in your savings account is only worth $5.05. So should I go and buy a bunch of stuff and hold onto it so that I can sell it later? NO, most of the stuff(junk) that we own goes down in value the longer it is owned because everyone wants to new hot item not the old stuff. So then what should I do with my money?

There are many things you could do with you money. You should try to create multiple streams of income to help reduce financial stress due to worry about losing main stream of income. You could invest the money in the stock market through a company that will invest it for you. You could also invest your money in real estate. I’ve heard it said that 80% or millionaires have some of their investments in real estate. You could also invest in a new business that you would like to create that could help you to find financial freedom.

Whatever you decide to do with your money make sure that you do your research and are confident in what you are investing in. If you just start throwing money at different avenues you will not make an informed decision and you could lose even more money than you would have had you just left the money in a savings account.

Leave a comment below and tell us ‘What do you do with your extra money?’

Difficulties Earning Money Online

When I was in college I started a few blogs because I was hoping to make some awesome websites. I started off very strong like most websites do and then I got bored of it and stopped posting. I got bored of posting because it was taking so much time and I was not getting a lot of views on my blog. I then left my blogs alone for a few years until I decided that I would like to start working on my blogs again. I logged back into my blogs and realized that my blogs were still getting a few views a month even though I had not posted anything in a few years. When I realized this I decided that I should try to start adding more content to these blogs again. I figured that if I could just put a few more blog posts than I would be able to get a few more views to my blog.

I had also added Google and Amazon ads to my blogs with no success. I was getting very little click through and no purchases so I was not able to bring in any income from this. I really wasn’t expecting much, just hoping for a few dollars a month but it was disheartening to not even get one cent from them.

I want to share my struggles with you so as to show that this is not a get rich quick or get rich easy path.

Do you have any struggles you would like to share?

Or perhaps you have found success through persistence?

I would love to hear your struggles and successes in the comment section below.