Prepineer Digest 010
How long is the FE Exam, your mindset, finding strain and a rising after a beatdown
I hope you’re week has started off amazing…I have a quick question to ask you:
Have you taken your first step towards preparing for the FE Exam yet?
If yes, congratulations – that’s a huge accomplishment and might just be the hardest step you will take!
If you haven’t, yet, welp, that’s great news, too!
Why?
Because that means there’s a lot you have to look forward to.
This week I am bringing you another set of great resources that will help you no matter where you stand today.
Uncertainty, overwhelm, doubt – all these emotions are front and center for most beginning the journey of preparing for the exam.
We are here to help guide you towards clarity and confidence as you set out to pursue this milestone.
I hope you take that step, my friend, there’s no reason to hesitate, we are here for you.
Justin Dickmeyer, PE
Founder, Prepineer
The goods
What’s featured in this weeks digest
In this Prepineer digest, we are diving deep in to some of the more important components of exam prep, inching you forward, one brick at a time, towards success on the FE Exam – here is the rundown:
- We start off discussing an empowering mindset we all should be operating with on the daily: You are the asset
- Need some reps in practice, we’ve got you covered, walking you through a practice problem in Instrumentation and Data Acquisition: How do you find strain using a strain gage?
- So how long is the FE Exam and how is it actually structured? We dive in to a common question to help you gain some clarity: How long is the FE Exam and how is it structured?
- At the brink of hanging up, Paul leaned against his biggest doubts – and won: Letting frustration lead the way: The inspirational story of Paul Trutner
Click where you’d like to start, or check out each resource individually, whichever way you go, enjoy!
Quick tip
You are the asset
If there was one thought of value I could leave any individual considering taking the FE Exam, it’s this:
You are the asset.
It has nothing to do with taking the exam at all – this is deeper.
This is about principle.
This is about mindset and how we tend to view ourselves as individuals operating within the corporate structure.
So many of us leave college and enter the next stage in the progression, and at some point, transition from driving our own growth trajectory to letting others drive it for us.
HR, supervisors, peers, media, suggest we do this or do that, and we slowly die to our own desires in lieu of fitting in to the uniform agenda.
And that is where the problems lies, in the uniformity of it all.
Uniformity has no place for outliers, it has no place for individuals like you that feed off being creative and pushing the boundary of what can be done.
In this world, too many of us have literally become the fabled “boiling frog“, exchanging our own powerfully unique identity for one that fits in to a system of economical output.
Look, I get it, when we land a job, we want to keep it – after all, it pays the bills.
But just because we are getting paid, doesn’t mean we must exchange the autonomy of driving our own growth.
Just because we are getting paid doesn’t mean we lie down our own desires as a sacrifice for “job security” and overall corporate benefit.
This is not an entry suggesting that the corporations are evil in any way, but let’s be real, they are in the business of making a profit and rightfully so.
And to make profit, they need to increase the delta between what they pay their assets versus the return on those assets – no one in their right mind would invest in a losing asset or not want as much as they could possibly get out of a sitting asset, that’s just smart economics.
So naturally, the corporations are in the business of paying you the least that they can to make sure you are content and performing.
We will always feel like we should be paid more, while at the same time, corporations will feel like they are always paying too much.
This synergy of tension will always exist, it’s not a bad thing, we just need to realize the game that is being played and commit to never giving up on growing in to better, more valuable assets of offering to the industry as a whole.
So today I ask you to adopt the mindset of being the asset. Realize that the more value you are able to bring the corporation you work for, the more that corporation can get in return in the real market.
And I will leave you with this.
A licensed engineer is much more valuable to the corporation then one who is not. And with being more valuable, the corporation can bid the work out at a higher rate, increasing that asset-return delta – and this is where you as the asset steps in:
If you are more valuable, you rightfully deserve to see some of that economic value back your way.
That’s called a win-win, a solid collaboration, a fair trade.
All of the above.
You are the asset, don’t you ever forget that.
Live each day like it matters, like you matter – because it does, and you do.
Daily Dose
How do you measure strain with a strain gage?
Instrumentation and Data Acquisition is one of those “gray area” subjects.
It’s not all out Electrical theory or Material Science, but is out there enough to scare many of us – but it can easily become a subject you are looking forward to working on the exam once you are exposed to some of the basic theories within.
In this video, we jump in to a problem that is covered within the subject of INSTRUMENTATION & DATA ACQUISITION, specifically walking you through measuring strain using a strain gage.
Enjoy! 🙂
Frequently Asked Questions
How long is the FE Exam and how is it structured?
If you are now just hearing about the FE Exam, then naturally, you have a lot of questions.
What is covered on the FE Exam?
When can I take the FE Exam?
Where do I take the FE Exam?
The list goes on, because let’s be real, most all of us heard about the FE Exam from someone other than the professors we paid to educate us! 🙁
So let’s start from the ground level answering this question:
How long is the FE Exam and how is it structured?
All of us start somewhere and need answers, let’s get in to it:
Student Success
Paul Trutner, PE
Today we take a step in to the world of Paul Trutner, a Professional Engineer and Prepineer success who was beyond frustrated with where he was in his career when we met.
I know many of you may be exactly where is was today, possible hung up, feeling defeated and unsure of what the future holds.
We love success stories, especially when they come from students we guide following a failure (or multiple), they are nothing short of inspiring. Better yet, they can be your story too!
Until we meet again my friend, may God bless you and your family! 🙂
