Can you prove your capabilities as a process control guru? If you’re in a job interview, or you’re talking to a potential client, can you present some credible evidence of your skills?

Here are a couple of ways to have the credentials to back you up:
1. Become a registered Professional Engineer. In the U.S. and Canada, a P.E., or P.Eng. license is the only legal proof that you can do the job. Technically, you need this license to be “in responsible charge” of an engineering effort. To get a P.E. license, you need a combination of education, work experience, and a good test score. The P.E. exam tends to rely heavily on academics. If you can still do all the math that you learned at the University, this may be a good route for you to go. P.E. rules vary state-by-state, so check your local government for more details.

2. ISA’s CAP certification is designed to validate the full range of skills that you need at your disposal in the automation industry. In my opinion, this certification emphasizes practical skills more than the P.E. Certification does. If you are looking to prove your well-rounded set of skills in instrumentation, project management, programming, and so on, then the CAP Exam, offered by ISA, may be right for you. For more on the CAP exam, visit:
http://www.ISA.org/CAP

You can choose either the P.E. or the CAP, or both. Either one provides you with some documentation to back up your claim to be a process control guru.

By the way, there’s a great in-depth article on this topic at Control magazine’s web site, ControlGlobal. If you want more info, I highly recommend this:
http://www.controlglobal.com/articles/2008/pe_cap_certification0810.html