[walshemj]

Not really I worked at a top 5 civil consultancy and the majority of engineers where not chartered it takes quite a few years of professional work to achieve that status.

and its more about "who you know not what you know" to quote my dad

[bmj]

I am not an engineer, but have a good friend who is an engineer doing nuclear reaction cooling systems. He worked in the industry for close to ten years before getting his PE, and only did it because his employer asked him to (I believe it helped them get a contract). Based on my conversations with other engineers, other industries (ME, EE, CE) seem to operate in the same way--some employers don't require the exam at all, others may push to have employees take it within some period of time after hire.

[BrownBuffalo]

Right, because PEs usually play out in higher-level industrial "type" projects. Government, I think requires PE/FE in a lot of situations. The other part of this, is that you take the PE/FE exam TWICE when you leave college. One is right after college, and then you work under a PE for 5 years (if I'm not correct) as a "mentor" then take it again after 5 years. You have to be registered under this PE, as well. The certification is like the other applied engineering disciplines - where it says you are accountable for what you make. But you already seem to know this from side conversations.

[Mvandenbergh]

Sure, but those people are still working towards accreditation, they're part of that system in a way that most software engineers are not.

[walshemj]

True but a lot stop or drop out as did I did I started as the mech eng professional apprentice doing day release - I also looked at going down the experience route for the BCS but they keep changing the rules and did not seem to do anything worth while.