Road to Professional Engineer (PE) Workshop 2013

This is a yearly affair with the objective of providing exposure to the participants when they apply for Corporate Membership of IEM leading to PE status. It includes specific tips on what to pay attention to during the application process and how to ace through the Professional Interview successfully. Besides that, IEM Miri uses this opportunity to update our members on the new IEM/BEM policies in relation to becoming a PE. 

This year event started off with a welcoming speech by IEM Miri Branch Chairman, Ir. Goh Soon Boon, where he congratulated the members for taking the first steps into becoming a professional engineer. He further mentioned that as Malaysia is still a developing country, we will need more and more professional engineers in the future to lead us to achieving the Vision 2020. 

In order to achieve the professional engineer status through IEM, one will be subjected to the Professional Interview whereby a verbal test is given, and later this would be followed by a paper test. But before this whole process can begin, the candidate must first fulfill all the requirements, such as to achieve the set CPD hours and also to complete the three mandatory courses. The complete requirements can be found on IEM HQ website. Throughout all this, the candidate must keep a detailed record of all the events and courses that he or she has participated in their ‘IEM Log Book’. The speaker then moved on to demonstrating the correct way of filling up the PE application form efficiently. 

Then Ir. Lim Chye Ing introduced the audience to the planned changes in BEM’s policies. One of the most significant is that, BEM plans to introduce a new grade for PE, which is the “second-tier Professional Engineer” and will be implemented in the near future. With the employment of this policy, Malaysia will open its doors to foreign engineers to register as PE in a structured manner and as part of the national agenda on liberalization and enhancing competitiveness. Paper assessments will be given to professional engineers (now known as first-tier Professional Engineers) to assess their eligibility to advance to the “second-tier” which comes with a “practicing certificate”. Note that there is a “saving rights clause” in the proposed amendments where existing PEs will retain their “practicing certificates” provided they apply within a given grace period from the date of the amended Act. 

This was a half day event which was held on the 26th of January 2013. It was attended by over 25 participants.

Reported by, Engr. Michelle Ling