Thursday, January 17, 2008

Forever learning

I am still working on getting my office ready for the move. What a task!

In all honesty, it has given me a chance to declutter my office and get rid of things I no longer need. Before I moved to this division, my area of expertise was air pollution control. I spent 10 yrs learning about regulations, and prevention. 10 years. That pretty much encompasses my entire career.

Making the decision to move to a new division was not easy because I knew I would have to start over. This division deals with the cleanup of contaminated sites, and that means soil and groundwater, not air. So I'm learning a new trade. Although I like it here, it has been hard to adjust. I went from being one of the "experts" to being the new kid. It has been an experience.

But change can be good and I'm enjoying this new area. I still miss doing what I liked best but life moves on, and in this field, experience in all aspects of the environment is a must. So I made the right decision by switching divisions.

I decided to get a new certification. This certification requires both a written and an oral test; and 10 yrs of experience in one area of environmental engineering. If I pass, I will get to add some extra letters to my name when I write letters (BCEE), in addition to the PE (Professional Engineer). I also get a 5% raise. That's 5% of my current salary. A very good raise, considering raises in state government are far and few in between. It also means I have to study hard for these tests so I can pass and get my raise.

BCEE stands for Board Certified Environmental Engineer. It is an accreditation offered by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers, and it basically means that if you have it, you are an "expert" in a particular area of environmental engineering.

Why can't I get away from studying? I guess I'm just an eternal student.