Introduction

Yes, you can become a Professional Engineer (P. Eng.) with a 2-year or 3-year diploma (or a 4-year bachelors in engineering technology) by writing technical examinations.

You can do this no matter where you currently live and work though you may not be able to apply directly to your provincial regulator. You may instead have to qualify as a professional engineer in another province.

Once you are a P. Eng., your P. Eng. will be transferable to any province or territory as guaranteed by the Canadian Free Trade Agreement.

The technical examinations route to this profession has been there since the beginning in 1920. The technical examinations were from 1920 to 1965 open to anyone and everyone wrote the exams regardless of their education in what was an open and inclusive system. What we now call CEAB accreditation of engineering degrees began in 1965 and those graduates were the first to not write the technical examinations.

But by the mid-1980s, many regulators increased the floor of who could write the technical exams to a minimum of two or three years of post-secondary education.

At the time I graduated from SAIT in 2003, many regulators were already then looking to make the technical exams a tool only for international engineering degree graduates. But it was only in the post-2020 era that they succeeded with EGBC, APEGS, PEO, and APEGM eliminating the path by 2023 for diploma graduates.

Today, only APEGA has a clearly defined requirement to accept 2-year and 3-year diploma graduates.

B. Tech. graduates are eligible to apply with every regulator except PEO and APEGS.

APEGA Regulations

“It pays to read the regs”.

Your foot in the door as a diploma graduate is the “Student” category per the Alberta EGP Act General Regulation Section 6(b)(ii):

Division 2 > Students >Eligibility

6 A person who meets the following requirements and applies to the Registrar for registration is entitled to be enrolled as a student:
(b) the applicant

[…]

(ii) has at least 2 years of post‑secondary education acceptable to the Board of Examiners in areas that relate to the science or technology of engineering or geoscience, together with

(A) one year of experience in work of an engineering or geoscientific nature acceptable to the Board of Examiners where the post‑secondary education consists of an engineering or geoscientific technology program recognized by the Board of Examiners, or

(B) 3 years of such work experience, where the post‑secondary education consists of education other than such a program.

If your program was CTAB or TAC accredited or APEGA sees them as equivalent, you will qualify per 6(b)(ii)(A). If not, it will be 6(b)(ii)(B). Note that those with an engineering related science degree (geosciences, chemistry, mathematics, physics, computer science, etc.) also are within 6(b)(ii)(B).

Your path to Professional Engineer is defined in 13(1)(e)(ii):

Division 5 > Professional Members > Eligibility

13(1)  A person who meets the following requirements and applies to the Registrar for registration is entitled to be registered as a professional member

[…]

(e)    the applicant meets one of the following requirements:

[…]

(ii)    the applicant is enrolled as a student under section 6(b)(ii) and

(A)    has completed all examinations prescribed by the Board of Examiners, and

(B)    has obtained at least 8 years of experience in work of an engineering or geoscientific nature that is acceptable to the Board of Examiners, at least one year of which is obtained after completion of the examinations referred to in paragraph (A);

Experience In a Work of Engineering or Geoscientific Nature…

If you have a TAC accredited diploma, there is not much APEGA can say to deny you per the regulation based on academics.

The one year XP requirement was added in the mid-1980s to ensure applicants were working in engineering teams and contributing before challenging the exams. Before that time, anyone could apply to write the exams. It was never intended to keep people who were doing engineering related work like detail engineering design and engineering liaison and other entry level tasks from applying.

But APEGA seems to have adopted the administrative tactic of applying a high standard to the one year XP requirement, borrowing some of the process that they apply in evaluating P.L. (Eng.) applicants.

Specifically, they are looking for evidence of “…the application of the principles of mathematics, chemistry, physics, or any related applied subject, within the context of an engineering nature…“.

What does this mean? At a basic level, they want to see you are not just doing CAD and other low level liaison or project management activities.

They want to see you are doing work that is “engineering” as defined the Engineers and Geosciences Professions Act:

“practice of engineering” means

(i) reporting on, advising on, evaluating, designing, preparing plans and specifications for or directing the construction, technical inspection, maintenance or operation of any structure, work or process

[…]
(B) that requires…the professional application of the principles of mathematics, chemistry, physics or any related applied subject…

So when they ask for your resume, you are going to provide in a single PDF document:

Use the old APEGA worksheet as it is better for this purpose than the current form. You are applying to be a “Student”, not a P.L.(Eng.). Don’t submit the full form. Just the “Details of Engineering/Geoscience Worksheets” like these I prepared years ago. Don’t worry if you don’t have as much detail as mine. It should be a low bar given the requirement is only one year of experience. Just make the best case you can and it should be fine.

If you are doing any sizing and specifying of materials or participating in engineering inspections on construction projects – then you most definitely are involved in engineering work. You are deserving of an opportunity to take this path to the profession as so many others like you have done in more than a century of a regulated profession in Canada. Remember that in WWII there were engineers in German POW camps writing technical examinations. So, likewise, don’t let anyone stop you from reaching your goals.

APEGA Student Application Process

You apply using the standard APEGA MIT application portal. You don’t meet the criteria for EIT but that’s fine. Just fill it out.

I used to ask people to follow up with an email to the re**********@***ga.ca but the feedback from APEGA was that it was unnecessary.

Then APEGA came up with a flag during the application process so that when you indicate you have a diploma, they ask you to call. For a while, they were using this to give the standard “Go Back to School!” speech. There are, of course, many good and sufficient reasons why leaving your job and returning to school is not for you. This roadblock was to discourage your application and frankly it was, at least in part, grounded in ignorance and classism.

Now, if you call, you are going to be told to simply enter that you have a degree and that will clear the flag and let you continue. The APEGA registration team maybe realized that administratively trying to bypass the regulatory framework and discourage valid, qualified candidates was immoral even if the IT team has not yet caught up. Small victories.

So, just go ahead and indicate you have completed a degree. At a later step, you will enter your diploma and they will figure out that you are eligible for “student” category.

Clear the “contact” flag by indicating a completed engineering degree

You meet the criteria to be enrolled Student per Alberta EGP Act General Regulation 6(b)(ii) and therefore APEGA MUST enroll you as they are required to by law.

Once you have submitted your transcripts and resume and have paid the application fee, you will have to wait 2 – 4 months for a response.

This is a good time to start an online course to knock off a technical examination while you wait. I took a UNB course to clear 98-CS-3 Engineering Economics while I waited for a response.

APEGA Response Letter

You will get an email response letter very similar to mine.

It will say you are ineligible for EIT but you do meet the requirement to be a Student. Yes, we know – this is just the way they want you to apply so roll with it.

APEGA claims to do a “course by course” review. But for diploma graduates, they assess not what you know but where you learned it.

As such, everyone with a diploma gets assigned 19 technical exams – no more or less. It doesn’t matter if it was a two year CADD program or the best three year program in the country.

One thing to keep in mind is that the number of technical exams does not matter – if you have done it before, it will be an easy exam for you to get ready to do again. So, let go of fairness and overcome the obstacles in front of you. Note: The CyberEd logo is you overcoming the obstacles and breaking through to P. Eng.

You can see in my letter that they allow you to write the FE exam in exchange for 5 technical exams. This is a gift that you should take advantage of. So, it is going to be 14 technical exams plus the FE exam minus any courses. I myself wrote 13 technical examinations and the FE exam and I took the UNB engineering economics course.

APEGA Student Registration

It is important that you register as a “Student”. This way, if APEGA succeeds in regulatory change you should be allowed to continue with your examinations. There are diploma graduates still writing technical examinations following PEO’s 2023 rule changes that barred diploma graduates.

APEGA will offer to “save you some money” by keeping you just as an applicant. I just don’t trust them to not use that as an excuse to deny you after a regulatory change. So, make sure you secure those Student registration payments.

Technical Examination Registration

Finally, you are ready to write the technical exams. You will want to plan your exam program out and I have some thoughts. I would suggest that two technical exams each spring and fall will get you through in a manageable four year period. But I myself wrote four technical exams one spring and three technical exams in other seasons. It just depends on how motivated you are and what sacrifices you want to make.

The hard part about the technical exams is not the exams themselves. It is putting aside work and family obligations to study for them.

Just realize that at first it may seem unsurmountable but the list will dwindle with time and therefore the goal will become more achievable. APEGA will tell you that only ~20% of diploma graduates succeed. This is true. It is also true that only ~27% that start a CEAB accredited degree become a P. Eng. so it is not so different for those doing the university route.

What usually happens with “Students” is that they either never register for an exam or maybe register for their first exams and don’t write or don’t pass or don’t feel great about continuing with a pass. It doesn’t help that APEGA may seem openly hostile towards your application.

But for those who do write four or more technical examinations, the success rate is very high. So please stick with it. I really felt it start to go downhill when I reached seven technical exams plus the FE exam remaining. That was the start of 2017 and that was the year I finished my exams.

After Your Technical Examinations

You need eight years of total experience to become a P. Eng. through the “student” route. For most people, you will be at least close to eight years when you finish your exams when you count up all your college co-ops, etc.

But if you have more than eight, don’t forget that after you finish your exams, they will still make you wait one more painful year to submit your P. Eng. application. This is in the regulation.

That year is a tough one mentally. You feel like a soldier standing in the dark in the rain marching in place that entire time. You will really be fed up by not having your technical authority squared away.

So, make sure you take the time to reconnect with friends and maybe take on pursuits you have put off during your examinations. You also should take good care of your spouse and be thankful for the sacrifices they have made.

Otherwise, you are just like any other applicant at this phase.

Once your exams are complete, you are eligible to get your Iron Ring. You’ve official entered the “Groucho Marx” stage of the process.

Where you go from there is up to you!

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