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1: Renewal Cycles

Some states require you to report your CE hours to the board yearly while others require it every 2-3 years. For example Texas requires 13 hours every year while New York requires 36 hours every 3 years.

Some states exempt new licensees from continuing education hours during their first cycle after becoming licensed.  Other states allow new licensees to complete partial CE hours.  For example, if the requirement is to complete 24 CE hours in a two year period and you become licensed in the middle of that two year period, you may only be required to complete half of the hours required for that biannual cycle.

2: How Many Hours Are Needed

Most states require 10-15 continuing education hours per year, with one hour required to be on the subject of ethics or rules in your state.  The state board website will indicate how many hours are required for your renewal cycle.

2.0.1 How Many of Each Type

Typically, you are required to obtain at least one hour on the subject of ethics and/or rules of the state with regard to engineering.  The rest of the hours can be related to any topic pertinent to the practice of engineering.  

Some states further require a number of hours to be related specifically to your area of practice. Others allow a certain number of hours to be in the non-technical areas of project management and administration.

Again, your state board will detail exactly what those requirements are in that state.

2.0.2 Carryover Hours

Continuing education hours obtained over the minimum number required for a renewal period may be allowed to carry over and count toward the next renewal period.  Most of the time there will be cap on the number of hours you can carry over.  This is helpful when you are able to bank extra hours during a year and don’t want to “waste” them when it comes to them counting toward your CE requirement.

3: Continuing Education Exemptions

A registrant usually may be exempt from the continuing education requirements for one of the following reasons:

• 1st renewal after licensure via PE exam.

• Serving on temporary active duty in the armed forces of the United States, or serving on regular active duty for an extended period of time (usually 120 days or more).
• Physical disability, illness, temporary leave from professional activity, or other extenuating circumstances as reviewed and approved by the board.
• Retired or inactive status.

4: How to Obtain Continuing Education Hours

Continuing education hours have to be board approved in some states but not in others.  For example, in Florida CE hours must be board approved, but in Texas they do not.

4.1 Sources of CE Hours

There are many ways of obtaining CE hours.  The following list are some commons ways.

• Presenting or attending seminars
• In-house or non-classroom courses
• Workshops
• Professional or technical presentations made at meetings
• Webinars
• Conventions
• Conferences, including those presented by vendors with specific knowledge related to the licensee’s area of practice
• College unit, semester, or quarter hour credit for college courses
• Interactive activities
• Teaching credit for short courses
• Published paper, article, or book
• Active participation in professional and technical societies
• Patents (the invention must be related to the registrant’s profession)

4.2 Typical Approved Providers

For those states whose boards require prior approval of CE providers, the typical providers are those such as:

• National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES)
• National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE)
• State Societies of Professional Engineers; i.e. Texas Society of Professional Engineers (TSPE)
• Technical or professional societies or organizations relating to professional engineering, such as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
• Colleges, universities or other educational institutions
• Other technical or professional societies or organizations including manufacturers

Remember, if your state requires board approval of CE hours, you must refer to their approved sources for them to count toward your requirement.

5: Documenting Continuing Education Hours

There are a few ways you can track your hours and documentation online.  

5.0.1 My NCEES Account 

I listed this one first because it’s the best in my opinion.  Using their free service, you can upload and store each course you take for PDH credit on their MyNCEES portal.  You can also keep all of the information needed for applying for licensure in other states.  If you need to transmit this information to a state board, you can easily do it through their system (there is a $175 fee for record transmittal, but not to store your record).    

5.0.2 Google Drive/Sheets 

I used to track this information in an Excel spreadsheet or with Google Sheets and store important documentation on Google Drive.  The Google accounts are free and the system works pretty well. It’s not as easy as using the My NCEES account. It’s much more convenient to do so through your My NCEES record.  The main benefit I see with the Google route is that it’s free and the data storage is very reliable as a backup if nothing else.

5.0.3 Engineer-Cloud.com 

This is a website that I have recently come across but don’t know much about.  It appears to have the potential to be a good option.  Take a look at it and see if it will work for you. I included it here so that you’d be aware that it’s out there.

5.0.4 Excel spreadsheets 

This may be the first option you thought about for tracking your PDH hours.  We engineers tend to use spreadsheets alot.  The above options are much better than a local copy of a spreadsheet because of the online backup capabilities.  Computer hard drive crashes happen frequently.  Having only a local copy of your record is not sufficient.  I suggest using one of the above options.

Some state require you to mail or email your PDH log to the board, while most don’t.  They just want you to keep them on file.  If you are audited by the board, you will need to provide these records for the board for review.

6: How Long Should I Keep My Records?

Typically you are required to keep records for up to 4-6 years although some states don’t specify a minimum timeframe. Many states conduct random continuing education verifications where they will audit you and review your hours.  

If you are in a state that doesn’t require submission of the CE hour log every renewal period, it will be your responsibility to furnish the log to the board when requested.  This is one reason why it’s so important to keep good records of your CE hours.  It’s a good idea to keep them as long as possible. It’s easy insurance against trouble with a potential audit down the road.

7: Additional Requirements

You must notify the board in the case of a life event or change such as an address, job or name change.  Notifying the board in writing within 30 days is the usual policy.

8: Non-Compliance

Non-compliance with the continuing education requirement will result in refusal of the board to renew your license.  This will result in failure to keep your license. If you let your license lapse for enough time, about 2 years in most states, you’ll have to reapply for licensure as if you were applying for the first time.

If it has lapsed for less than 2 years, often the rules are lighter and you can be reinstated by paying a fee, sending in some forms and catching up on your CE hours.

It is important to note that there is no grace period when it comes to your engineering license.  This means that once your license expires, you are immediately ineligible to practice engineering.  After that point you cannot legally use your license.  This is why it’s so important to stay on top of your license renewal so this doesn’t happen to you.  Make sure you read and reread this guide on how to handle continuing education hours for professional engineers to avoid this problem!

9: How To Handle Continuing Education Hours for Professional Engineers – The Bottom Line

Whichever method you choose, make sure that you upload your information soon after passing the PE exam.  Down the road, you’ll be glad you did.  No matter what, you’ll need this information at some point. Don’t screw yourself by not storing and backing it up while it’s fresh on your mind.

Also, be sure to keep up with the current laws and rules in your state. Be diligent about obtaining PDH hours and logging them throughout the year.  As your renewal deadline approaches, refer back to this guide on how to handle continuing education hours for professional engineers for a refresher on the process.