I am both an IEEE member and an iNARTE certified Product Safety Engineer. For both, I have found the value to be commensurate with the effort I have put into my membership. If you are an active member, attending chapter meetings and writing papers or articles, you will probably find the membership much more valuable.
I have been an IEEE member for about 20 years. For much of that time, it was nothing more than a very expensive magazine subscription for me. Now that I put some effort into my IEEE membership, I am getting a lot more back. The professional contacts alone have been quite valuable. In addition, It has also encouraged me to start writing papers, which requires me to research subjects in far more detail that I would have considered before becoming an active member. I can’t claim to be an expert in these areas, but it has given me enough knowledge to provide additional value to my employers. I became able to resolve problems that once seemed intractable, or that could only be resolved with significant support from vendors. Many see IEEE as an academically oriented organization and that is what it has become in recent years. I remember seeing an IEEE Spectrum article from a number of years ago showing that 35 years ago, the majority of papers submitted for IEEE publication came from people in industry. Now, the vast majority come from academia. I don’t know if American businesses allow or encourage the type of work needed to regularly publish. The advantages are long term and not short term, and as such, are not reflected on the stock market. The publications and symposia of the IEEE in general have become less valuable to industry professionals. I do believe that more participate by industry professionals could help swing IEEE back towards the middle. I encourage other industry personnel to join to help make the IEEE into a society for us all. There are exceptions to the academic slant. I find that the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society is strongly industry oriented. The EMC society has a lot of industry participation, but the annual symposia are more split between academia and industry. The local EMC chapters do provide quite a bit to industry professionals. Outside of our profession, there are groups such as the IEEE Power Engineering Society (PES) which are strongly industry oriented. My iNARTE certification has provided less value to me, but I have yet to become active. The certification for product safety is relatively new and currently seems to carry little value within the product safety community. I suspect that if I were to become more active with iNARTE, I would get more out of it. My impression of iNARTE EMC certification is more favorable. In general (and this is my perception only) the certified EMC engineers that I know seem to be competent and knowledgeable. If I were hiring, I would definitely take iNARTE certification into consideration. A person who was not certified would not be excluded and I can’t off-hand state how much weight I would give to certification. There are other options. If you live in New England, the North East Product Safety Society can provide a good opportunity for continuing education and networking. http://www.nepss.net/ Finally, I will state that the value could be great for your career in the current economic climate. A personal acquaintance with other compliance engineers around the country could be your foot in the door if you need to find a new job. When a company is hiring, firsthand knowledge of a candidate gives that person a significant advantage. Ted Eckert Compliance Engineer One Microsoft Way Redmond WA, 98052 (425) 707-9205 [email protected] This email message may contain confidential and proprietary information. Any unauthorized use is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message. From: Gert Gremmen [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2009 11:31 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: iNARTE PS or IEEE >>I would not not do it. Join IEEE instead. I have been member of this list for almost 10 years now, and have learned a lot. What would be the real advantage of becoming a IEEE member ? Or was it just a joke ??? Gert Gremmen Van: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Namens [email protected] Verzonden: zaterdag 10 januari 2009 7:08 Aan: [email protected]; [email protected] Onderwerp: Re: iNARTE PS cert & books Curtis, I would not not do it. Join IEEE instead. Pete From: Bender, Curtis <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thu, 8 Jan 2009 8:58 am Subject: iNARTE PS cert & books Greetings colleagues. To further my career "credentials" (and +20 year experience) as a product safety engineer I plan on taking the iNARTE PS certification test and thus have a couple questions. 1.) Do you feel being iNARTE certified is beneficial to you and your career? Your employer? If not what alternates do you suggest? 2.) The iNARTE certification suggests the books referenced below. If you were to pick two, which ones would be best for the test? Most useful in the future? Reference Titles *Product Safety Management and Engineering, Willie Hammer, 1993, ISBN: 0939874903 *Product Safety Engineering for Managers: A Practical Handbook and Guide, R. Matthiew Seiden, 1984, ISBN: 013724097X *Product Safety Evaluation Handbook, Shayne Cox Gad, 1988, ISBN: 0824778294 Product Safety Handbook: The Manufacturer's Guide to Legal Requirements and Management Strategies, Stanley R. Kalin, JD, PE, and Susan A. Longacre, 2000, ISBN: 0865876835 *Practical Guide to the Low Voltage Directive, Gregg Kervill, 1998, ISBN: 0750637455 iNARTE PS Application Package Rev. 04-29-2008 PSAPP.PDF Page 3 of 10 As always I appreciate your input and comments. Curtis Bender [email protected] *The opinions expressed are my own and are not necessarily the opinions of my employer. - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <[email protected]> David Heald: <[email protected]> ________________________________ A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! <http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/10000007 x1216817552x1201106465/aol?redir=http:/ www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.asp ?sc=668072%26hmpgID=82%26bcd=DecemailfooterNO82> - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher <[email protected]> David Heald <[email protected]> - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher <[email protected]> David Heald <[email protected]> - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher <[email protected]> David Heald <[email protected]>
