Things to Stop Doing – A Professional Outlier’s Perspective

Posted on by johnlwheaton1

I’ve mostly had the experience in my life of being a bit of an outlier. I didn’t understand it when I was younger, but I do now. It’s not something I contrive or try to make happen, it’s just part of who I am, how I think, and how I interact with the world. At this stage of my life, I am comfortable with it.

So, here’s my view on something we need to STOP Doing.

State boards of professional engineering and architecture need to stop mandating continuing education- professional development hours (PDH) for registered design professionals (PE’s, RA’s and similar.)

Am I against education? No, quite the contrary. The very nature of a “professional” and our work, the statutory compliance requirements, ethics, protection of health and public welfare, certification of documents, education, fundamentally require the constant growth and learning with or without PDH’s.

Being a “professional” implies that we are in a category of self-governance, self-learning, training, and needing to stay “sharp” regardless of mandates. The state rules already provide enough accountability to encourage technical competency.

And if a registrant isn’t committed to it, or the very nature of their work as PE, RA, or other type of licensure is just a title at this stage in their career, then that’s okay. We all still must practice only in our areas of specialty. And if we waver from that, we face the consequence of a potential reprimand, civil and even criminal penalties.

Mandatory Professional Development hours might look good on the surface, but it doesn’t define the value of a design professional and their capability. It doesn’t ensure more quality work.

Most of it in my view is just an extra burden. Find the courses, get the hours, check the boxes.

While I do it and seek to make it work to my advantage, to learn, and to find courses as closely aligned to my field and interest as possible, I wouldn’t do it if it was not required. I don’t need it. I get plenty of real and applicable PDH’s every week, month, year, through the nature of the work, literally.

Plus, apart from Industry-Specific seminars from various companies in the building enclosure and components space, try to find PDH’s on that relevant subject matter through the major online players. You won’t find much.

More compliance is just more burden, less value, less trust in allowing professionals to be who they have chosen to be.

This won’t make it stop, but I had to say it. I’ll bet others in this space may feel the same.

Add a comment…

Compliance vs Self-Education

Posted on by johnlwheaton1

I am a professional. One thing that distinguishes professionals in any field or industry, is self-learning. When we commit to being a professional, we commit to a lifetime of self-learning. I also happen to be a professional engineer, a “PE.” With becoming a PE, comes years of study, testing, and an ongoing obligation to the public and the profession to practice in our area of expertise; to follow clearly outlined by laws that regulate the profession. I am a big proponent of this.

Some years ago, regulators and PE’s serving on state boards, working together, decided it would be a good idea to require continuing education in order to renew and maintain one’s PE license. This sounds like a good idea, but does requiring continuing education to be completed define whether a professional is a self-learner or not? Were the bylaws, the ethics, and the essence of what we agreed to do and adhere to not enough? Can professionals not be trusted? If they can’t be trusted then there are rules in place to discipline them, or remove their license. Before that would happen, they would likely be discarded by clients or their employer. Is this not enough compliance? What’s my point? (I’m glad that you asked)

Practicing any craft well requires a continual commitment to learning. It’s a necessary part of the process. Am I a believer in continuing education? Yes. Does requiring it as part of a compliance regimen guarantee the right outcomes? No. Taking coursework is good, but it doesn’t define self-learning. Checking a box is simply that. We can complete an exercise, walk away, and not learn the rest of the year if we choose. If we are self-learning, we are “checking the box” every day.

Compliance doesn’t confirm competency.