8/12/2019 Technical Engineering's Best-Kept Secret

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/technical-engineerings-best-kept-secret 1/18 PE  DECEMBER 2012

who specify and use certified techniciansand technologists on the engineering team

quickly realize that they now have a more

professional staff creating a more profes-

sional product. Certified technicians and

technologists have demonstrated they

have specific knowledge and experiences

through the extensive NICET testing and

verification processes.

Once the technicians and technologists

are certified, they must earn a minimum

number of relevant continuing education

hours over a three-year certification period.

Through a recertification process, the certifi-

cant must earn a certain number of the hours

through traditional, relevant continuing

educational opportunities and participation

in professional activities and membership

societies. A number of the points are earned

by actively working in their certification field.

UCLA basketball coach John Wooden

once said, “Don’t measure yourself by

what you have accomplished but by what

you should have accomplished with your

abilities.” The essence of this quote fully

exemplifies the NICET premise. There is

an option out there for technicians to attain

a more professional status simply by veri-

fying the skills and experiences they have

already attained throughout their careers.

These technicians most likely have had apositive effect on your career, helping you

move forward. I’m asking you to support,

mentor, and encourage these same techni-

cians to help themselves to move forward

and upward in their own career paths.

Wade Abbott is a designer, project

manager, and associate at H.W. Lochner

Inc. He is a level 4 NICET-certified

engineering technician and chairman of

the NICET Board of Governors.

or organizations. Each level requires moreand more leadership responsibility, ulti-

mately leading to a senior-level technician

and project management responsibility.

NICET’s problem today is that it is still

one of the best-kept secrets of the technical

engineering community. Even though NSPE

initiated the NICET organization some 50

years ago in order to provide technicians

and technologists a professional path in

the industry, many NSPE members are still

unaware of NICET, its strong connection to

NSPE, and its purpose.

As NICET’s chairman, I am asking you

to start thinking about the technical staff

members in your office or out in the field

right now. Are they certified? Are they

certified but have not been motivated to

advance the next certification level or to

seek additional certifications? I am asking

you, as a valued member of NSPE, to step

forward to promote NICET as well as NSPE.

The professional members of the engi-

neering team are being asked to put on their

mentor hats and encourage their technical

staff members to seek and/or upgrade

certifications. If you have certified engi-

neering technicians on your staff already,

help them build their skills and experience

and encourage them to move to the next

certification level. If your staff is not certi-fied, work together to learn about NICET,

its processes, and certification programs.

What is the value of a voluntary NICET

certification? NICET certification measures

and documents that the technician has,

based on verified examination results

and extensive experience evaluation,

demonstrated that he or she is capable

of performing the tasks associated with a

level 1-, 2-, 3-, or 4-certified engineering

technician or a technologist. Engineers

The advances in the civil engineeringindustry throughout my career have been

nothing short of amazing. In those early

years, engineers cranked out all calculations

by hand, and then the drafters and detailers

detailed and inked everything onto mylar

sheets. Your “undo button” was an electric

eraser. There wasn’t a computer in sight

but we still got the work done, although

projects took years to complete instead of

weeks and months today.

We were detailers and drafters. The

term technician didn’t arrive in our little

world until the day my boss called all the

drafters into his office. The group gath-

ered, whispering and wondering, “What’s

wrong? What did we do?” He handed us

all literature for an organization called the

National Institute for Certification in Engi-

neering Technologies and asked if anyone

had ever heard of it. None of us had or was

even aware of its purpose of certifying

engineering technicians and technologists

through examination.

Together we reviewed the organization

and discussed the idea of technician certi-

fications. Then he told us, “I know you and

what you are capable of and firmly believe

you can achieve this certification.” Finally,

he challenged us to try for the NICET

certifications.

Getting involved with NICET was the

best step I ever made after deciding to

make the technical engineering industry my

career. Engineering technicians working in

almost any engineering discipline can chart

their progress through the NICET certifica-

tions, from level 1 to level 4. NICET certifica-

tion requirements gave me goals to worktoward so I could make those steps up the

NICET ladder and progress at my firm. If

the test for the next certified level required

a specific skill or experience that wasn’t in

my career track, I asked my superiors for

the opportunity to gain that experience. The

process worked, and my firm gained a more

qualified technician.

The NICET progression through the

program levels mirrors the progression

technicians should take in their own firms

Technical Engineering’s Best-Kept SecretBY WADE ABBOTT, SET

CONCEPTS

If you have certified engineering technicians on your staff

already, help them build their skills and experience and

encourage them to move to the next certification level.