How to be an Engineer in Kenya
How to be an Engineer in Kenya
Preamble:
Institution of Engineers of Kenya (IEK) - the professional body for Engineers in Kenya. There are many different membership categories. This article deals with registering for the 'Corporate member' class. Such Corporate members must be graduates of Engineering in an Engineering discipline, from an institution recognized and accredited by EBK.
Engineers Board of Kenya (EBK) - the Government of Kenya body mandated to register engineers, regulate the profession and set standards and practice of engineering. There are many different registration categories. This article deals with registering for the 'Professional Engineer' (PE) category. Such PEs must be graduates of Engineering in an Engineering discipline, from an institution recognized and accredited by EBK.
To be a Corporate member of IEK, you will need to be a PE. However, to be a PE, you will also need to be a Corporate member of IEK. That means that you need to have both classes of membership at the same time.
To get a tie break, you are allowed to use 'evidence of application' e.g. payment receipt or acknowledgment letters of application, to support your respective applications. Finally, each of the two will inter-communicate to confirm that you are a member of the other, before you get your full registration in both. Bottomline - do the 2 registration processes at the same time.
12-steps to being successful first time
1. Before start - be Graduate member of IEK and EBK. If you have not yet done this, then start by doing these applications first
*you need at least 3-year (36-months) on-the-job experience after registering as graduate member with EBK to be allowed to be considered for EBK PE registration. IEK also requires this minimum period of practical experience (25 months), but in their case this should be demonstrated through the experience report, not necessary from date of registration
*tip - ensure that you have at least 40 months OTJ training, so that you are not on the border line, when challenged on the month-by-month breakdown of what constitutes the training, and some of the OTJ experience may be discounted to other categories of professional development, reducing the 24-month threshold for IEK or 36-month threshold for EBK.
2. Apply for Corporate member of IEK and also registered professional engineer (PE) at EBK (do both applications at the same time)
*IEK application shall need 2-proposers and 2-seconders to sign your application, all of whom must be at least Corporate members and above
*Speak to the proposers and seconders in advance, so that they respond to any query raised by IEK in relation to your membership, to avoid delays
*Attach a separate document to the IEK application, with your all your training and experience (do not rely on the small space provided on the form)
*EBK application shall need 3-referees to sign the application, all of which must be PEs
*Speak to the referees in advance, since EBK will contact them and they must respond to these reference checks for your application to go through, sometimes some referees ignore to respond to EBK and your application cannot be processed
*Attach a separate document to the EBK application, with your all your training and experience (do not rely on the small space provided on the form)
3. Attend at least 2 mentorship sessions to see how to do the 2 reports (Training and Experience TE, and Project Report PR)
*Send WhatsApp/email request to the IEK mentorship coordinator to be included in WhatsApp group. Send email to IEK general email and ask to be included in the mentorship sessions, and state your Engineering discipline (electrical, mechanical, civil, agricultural), or contact me to link you up
*Mentorships are done by volunteer Engineers for free, so this is something that you really need to take advantage of, while it lasts. You get to learn what is needed in the reports and how to present the reports
*Mentorship sessions are held online every 2-weeks, on Sundays from 2.00pm to 6.00pm for Electrical. There was a session on April 2, 2023. Count the fortnights to figure out the other sessions. Other disciplines hold their sessions on alternate days/frequencies.
4. Do TE report after having listened to what others have done
*Use the predefined MS-Word template (available once you join the mailing list above) to do the TE report and stick strictly to the format provided
5. Send TE draft to mentorship coordinator and request for presentation in a panel
6. Present TE to panel, make corrections, keep presenting until approved
*Do no repeat mistakes pointed out in other mentees documents. Correct them in advance so that your document does not have such, whether it is formatting, content, tone, flow, pictures, tables etc. It is annoying to the mentors (and yourself) when they repeat same corrections.
*Final TE with appendices will be about 25-35 pages, depending on the time of T and E.
7. Meantime start PR so that go jump to it after TE is approved
*Use the predefined MS-Word template (available once you join the mailing list above) to do the PR report and stick strictly to the format provided
8. Present PR to panel until approved
*If you need, and as a benefit, you can request the mentorship coordinator to assign you to a registered Engineer working in a similar project area, as a personal mentor, to work with offline
*Final PR with appendices will be about 40-50 pages, depending on the time of nature of project. It should be something you did in the course of your duties, and either current or in the last at most 5-years. It should cover all things engineering (not business), so go back to first principles in the design, do not rely on tools, apps and utils. Rely on good old calc.
9. See, hear and learn from comments, corrections, pointers, pitfall of others
*Attend each mentorship session and stay on until the end of the session, whether you are presenting or not
10. After TE and PR are approved, compile and present to both IEK and EBK and wait for the interviews to be scheduled
*The original TE and PR must be signed by Corporate member of IEK for IEK reports, and by PE for EBK reports. Each page of the report should be initialed by the supervisor signing the document (initialed, not signed)
*Present the number of copies needed, usually original + 3 copies of TE and a separate set of original + 3 copies for the PR
*Do not forget to submit your drawings with documents, ensure the drawings are signed by both on supervisor at the workplace where the project was done and also your project supervisor who must be a registered engineer
11.As you do no. 10, book a mandatory EBK pre-submission conference + mandatory IEK Professional Interview Preparation (PIP) conference
*Check EBK and IEK websites for the dates of these meetings. Ensure that you attach the certificates for both trainings to the TE reports, before you submit your documents to the respective offices
12.Attend interviews when scheduled (about 1-3 months after submission) + any corrections (re-interview if needed)
The above 12-step process should enable you succeed in being a corporate member of IEK (Corporate member of the Institution of Engineers of Kenya - MIEK) and being a registered professional engineer by the EBK (Professional Engineering, Eng. PE) at the first try (not 2nd)
The process ends when you get confirmation of being admitted to the class of Corporate member of IEK and a letter of confirmation from EBK that you are a PE and the discipline of the PE.
The 12-part process can take anything from 3-months to 18-months. Read my own experience in another blogpost.
Lessons – Dos and Don’ts
Dos
1. Do – be Corporate member of IEK and EBK reg. PE
2. Do – transition to the above using the mentorship route
3. Do – use and stick the TE and PR template (exactly as is – font type, font size, spacing, pagination, what goes where, number of words)
*Trick - if you have more words than recommended, move some stuff to the appendices, and reference them on the main document. The appendices do not count when considering number of words in the reports. However, do not go overboard with the main report or appendices in terms of number of words. More than double is not a good idea.
4. Do – take and act on the comments and corrections serious (there is nothing personal, do not be overly defensive. This is a learning process and mentors are PEs.)
5. Do – change pictures/contents if told do so (even if you have strong attachment/passion to the content)
6. Do – continue to attend mentorship even afterwards, there is lots of learning (masomo haina mwisho)
7. Do – have a notebook/camera to record your engineering experiences (helps in TE/PR reporting)
8. Do – document some of your projects (when, who, why, what, how, costs, bills, pictures, impacts), in the course of your work (*helps identify one project for PR report for registration)
9. Do – present all your reports (TE/PR) in one mentorship panel, so that there is consistency, and there is built-up of content based on same mentors over time.
10. Do – read and re-read your document (even after submission). There is always something to correct (given second chance), the more you correct the better
Don’ts
1. Don’t – wait until you get reminder to register
2. Don’t – have a fixed mindset on the reports. Be ready change, modify, adapt, adopt (*my first report was miles apart from the final one – for same project)
3. Don’t – take anything personal, despite comments, tone, language, approach given
4. Don’t – give up. Once you start you must go through (it may be 1-year of a journey, but no stopping)
5. Don’t – neglect the details of the reports (commas, full stops, abbrevs, units, precision)
6. Don’t – panel hop between the 5 mentorship panels. Get and stick to one, unless the mentorship convenors recommend that you move to another panel
Interview/report tips
1. You can/shall be asked anything on the reports (from cover page to last page)
2. Own the report – you should present it even without reading it. You must know it in advance (before interview)
3. Principles must be right – engineering principles must be correct i.e. formulas, calculations, precision, assumptions (*a wrong formula is a no-no)
4. Be ready to revise – this is something hard to swallow, but be ready for it early and do it if needed
5. Accept counsel from experts – accept interviewers' inputs and points of view, accept when you are wrong
Contact me (post a message) if you need any further assistance, and I shall walk part of the journey with you
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