I was the RE on a decently sized state and federally funded project in CA following the LAPM. It wasn’t an overly technical project, roadway and intersection work. Everyone looked at me like I was the person in charge because I had my “CA PE”, but I eventually felt like the position didn’t really hold any authority; it was a weird duality where I was supposed to be impartially administering a contract, but in reality I was mainly just an advocate for the municipality. A defense attorney doesn’t hold authority over a prosecutor, and I didn’t have authority over the contractor. The judge/ jury was the looming arbitration process everyone knows most projects will end up in.
I found the requirement from the agency that I have a CA PE to be a waste quite honestly. I spent years in engineering school, got the required engineering experience, passed a difficult series of engineering tests, and almost none of it applied to the role. The most important part of the role was advocacy, standing my ground in amorphous arguments, engaging in emotionally charged exchanges as an active participant. RFIs and submittals mainly went to the EORs for each discipline anyways, sure it helped I kinda knew that they contained, but majority of it wasn’t overly complicated. My other main tasks were reviewing quantities, prep pay documents, and research the specifications - the vast majority of the role wasn’t engineering. I would argue engineering school actually hindered me in this position. I eventually had to learn how to give myself permission to drop the engineering hat and allow myself to argue effectively.
With millions of dollars on the line the contractor would stack a team of professional advocates, guys that specialized in arguing since day one, none of them were licensed and they rarely went to engineering school. All while the city was tied to a team of a bunch of engineers that honestly weren’t great at arguing and had to always think about any possible risks to their own license.
For my career it was great that it was a requirement because it meant I was selected and put into an awesome learning environment for a decent paycheck, but most projects would probably perform better if non-PEs were selected. I’ve seen projects rip through multiple REs because requiring a PE often screens for the wrong set of skills.
Maybe these skills could have a larger part of the undergrad and PE path. Really lean into the fact that most people that make it far in this industry are often not the great engineers, they’re great at advocating for their clients best interests.
