Professional Development

Professional development ensures that employees are highly skilled and up-to-date in their area of specialism. For all new graduate entrants, this development is likely to involve working towards full membership of the professional institution which is related to their degree qualification and work area specialism. The graduate development programme may help you get started on the road to membership of the professional institution which is appropriate to your degree discipline and work specialism. A brief overview of the IEE and BCS professional development schemes is shown below.

Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE)

The IEE offer a route to attain Corporate Membership (MIEE) status as well as Chartered Engineer (CEng) status. The IEE is appropriate to individuals who have obtained degree qualification (usually second class honours degree, or above) in an electrical, electronic, manufacturing, control, computing or software discipline and who will be working in an engineering/computing environment. For new graduate entrants who apply for membership on commencing the two year graduate development programme, there is the opportunity of completing the route to Corporate Membership (MIEE) status in 4 years instead of the usual 6 year requirement. This is achieved by completing a 2 year training and development period and 2 years ‘responsible experience’. The route to Corporate Membership for new graduate entrants is: Completion of 2 years training and development which must be formally recorded on a training record, regularly reviewed and agreed with a formally appointed IEE mentor. At the end of the second year, your training record (consisting of a maximum of 10 pages) together with a report from your mentor will be sent to the IEE for assessment. On passing this stage, you then need to complete a period of 2 years during which you need to demonstrate responsible experience in your job. At the end of this 2 year period you will be required to complete a form ‘M’ and submit this to the IEE for assessment. You will also be requested to attend an interview to discuss your ‘M’ form. When this final stage has been agreed with the IEE you will then be granted Corporate Membership status (MIEE). The IEE criteria for Corporate Membership is accredited by the Institute of Chartered Engineers. On attainment of MIEE status you will be sent details of registering for CEng status directly from the IEE.

The British Computing Society (BCS)

The BCS operate a Professional Development Scheme which may be undertaken either as a development scheme or as a formal route to Corporate Membership (MBCS). The BCS is open to individuals who have a wide range of qualification levels and disciplines who work in an Information Technology environment but is most appropriate to individuals who have obtained degree qualification (usually second class honours, or above) in computing or computing-related subjects. The BCS use a formal work-related job description made up of hierarchical job levels within job type groupings. Each job type, eg Analyst Programmer, Business Analyst, etc. is assigned specific skills, knowledge and abilities for each job level - the more demanding the requirements, the higher the job level. Anyone registering for the professional Development Scheme will require the support of a Supervisor who is either your line manager or project manager/supervisor. You will work with this supervisor to set regular development ‘cycles’ of usually 6 or 12 months. These cycles set and monitor progress within as well as up through the job levels. The length of time taken to achieve MBCS will be assessed by the BCS and is dependent upon qualification level, qualification subject, work area and speed of progress through the development cycles. The BCS criteria for Corporate Membership is accredited by the Institute of Chartered Engineers. On attainment of MBCS status you will be sent details of registering for CEng status directly from the BCS. The BCS is open to all employees working in an Information Technology area and application can be made at anytime during their career.