Can I Do Job Bidding With A Foreign Degree?

partspartner

Hi! I am professional civil engineer and building contractor with lots of years of experience as a site superintendant, foreman, job estimator, back in my old country and here. I understand I better be able to bid on construction projects - state jobs, or government jobs. The problem is my degree is issued back in a foreign country, the old Soviet Union, and does not count here.

Should I try and get myself an online degree here, or instead I just need a license? I started my own website partner-onlineshop.com to try making some extra buck selling used and refurb equipment (bobcats, loaders and accessories), reconded and refurbed parts tools and construction stuff in Atlanta Georgia for local guys and businesses in Atlanta and in Georgia countryside, but the money is somewhere else so I think I really need to go into job bidding (on base work, or paving jobs). I have a great hard-working crew and equipment but the market is tight and we are underemployed.

This forum seems to be the best for asking questions like this. Since most of its members are seasoned and highly professional specialists. And nobody wants to waste money on worthless, or fake degrees, and online education schemes.

Thanks! (partspartner)

NSolano

If you are licensed contractor in the US then you are allowed to bid. you do not need a degree to do labor work here.
Just get your company a license in the state you are working in, send your prices in (bid), and then work.
If you want a building license then take the required courses (if any in your state), proof your experience, take the required tests, and then fill out your application for a license.
Don't worry about the degree, if you want your degree to count then I would go to local university and have a talk with them about what courses and tests you need to take to make your degree valid in the US.

TempestV

also, I beleve that if the degree was given to you by a university, even if the country it was in broke up, or the university closed, it would still count. The only problem is that I doubt that Soviet Universitys were reviewed by the ASCE- American Society of Civil Engineers, who grade the schools on the quality of their engineering programs, and without their approval stamp, the degree doesn't hold much weight in the United States. You could write to the ASCE and ask what can be done, they would probably give you some help. You probably would have to pass the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam (FE) at some point, but that is just a four hour test.
Information about the FE exam here

TempestV

I wouldn't be supprised if many of the online engineering degree programs aren't approved by the American Society of any engineering dicipline- ASME, ASEE, AICE, or ASCE

theartisan

best served on bread with mustard

send_it_all

Not even the slightest plug goes unnoticed here, does it?...lol

partspartner

Thanks, TempestV and NSolano! Very reasonable because simple (Occam's rasor, I believe). So basically the only place you need a degree is a corporate environment - to grow up a career stepladder. To be a state-bidding-qualified contractor (except having good friends at right places, that is) all you need is a license/insurance/certificate. I mean credentials, not abilities, or connections. Right?

What smells like meat? Spam? Theartisan remark is irrelevant, at best, and self-ingratiating at worst. He(She)'s in a hurry to let the world know that he(she)'s the first to sniff out a bone with a spam on it.

Always answered first back in your school, the artisan? Teacher's best friend, bad PR, and no girlfriends. Must've been tough childhood.

Wrong. Leave your mustard to yourself.

partspartner

Tmrrptr

Is that much of a plug against rules here?

You're good at the details I can see...

If I need to refer in oc I'll post you.

it's all good.
or fixable
r

mdshunk

I don't know that to be true. I work with an engineer from time to time who's degree was from a university in Tbilishi, Georgia (USSR). Smartest SOB I know. Where did you earn your degree, exactly? There are US universities that work with certain other countries who will grant you a degree based on your foreign degree.

Are you saying, perhaps, that you aren't eligible to sit for the PE exam in the US? That's a horse of another color, which can be overcome as well.

mdshunk

PartsPartner... I really appreciate your soviet-style humor. I can't get enough of you guys. Dry humor.... just my style. I loved "Lenny" on The Apprentice.

maurajbo

That went right over my head. Explain the meat please...

maurajbo

Oh you mean because he had his web site listed. I don't think it's so awful to write something like that. What annoys me is when people write 50 messages about how someone should visit their web site and they don't contribute anything to the discussions. Someone mentioning their site in the middle of a well-thought out post doesn't bother me.

Anyway, in response to partspartner, as the others said, you don't need a degree. You just all appropriate licenses. For many bids you also need a bond, which is a pain to get, but allows you to bid on many projects you couldn't bid on otherwise.

theartisan

= spam

this guy posted on a couple different forums his question may be genuine

" Should I try and get myself an online degree here, or instead I just need a license?"

but his website is not.

he has a website full of affiliate links and STOLEN copyrighted information. grab a block of text and google it. one "article" is comprised
of nothing but posts clumed together from this forum. http://www.lawnsite.com/archive/index.php/t-22942.html


i am not convinced that it is a genuine question considering this statement.

I am professional civil engineer and building contractor with lots of years of experience as a site superintendant, foreman, job estimator, back in my old country and here.

In the U.S., one must become a licensed Professional Engineer to do any civil engineering work affecting the public or to legally represent oneself as a civil engineer.