Every engineer understands why professional development is a regulatory requirement in many states. However, this shouldn’t be your only motivation for taking your PDH courses more seriously. Professional Development Hours (PDHs) are the continuing education credits that help you keep your licence active, but they can also shape your career trajectory.
And with so many courses now available online, you can leverage them to grow faster, smarter, and more efficiently. Here’s what you should know about that.
Quick Refresher: What Are PDHs?
A PDH, in the simplest terms, is a unit of credit for participating in continuing education. Most state engineering licensing boards require between 12 and 30 PDHs every renewal cycle, depending on your discipline and location.
These hours can come from conferences, workshops, seminars, or increasingly, from online engineering courses that meet board-approved standards. It’s always advisable to get your course from a reputable provider like RocketCert to ensure you’re not just studying the right content, but also enhancing your knowledge and skills.
How Online PDH Courses Boost Your Career
Wondering how online PDH courses can help you excel in your career? Here’s what you should know about that:
1. Flexibility That Matches Your Schedule
Engineers often juggle demanding workloads and tight deadlines. This makes it quite impossible to attend an in-person seminar and still focus on work. Online PDH courses help you solve such problems by letting you complete training on your schedule.
But how does this boost your career? It’s all in the content you study. Online courses make it convenient to study so that you aren’t missing the vital information and updates that help you succeed in this field.
2. Expanding Technical Knowledge
Engineering is a constantly moving target, thanks to code changes, technology shifts, and ever-rising standards. Online PDH courses, especially those that are approved by your state’s licensing board, will update their training material more quickly compared to printed resources or traditional seminars.
This makes it easier to stay current so that you can reduce project risks, boost efficiency, and maintain credibility with clients and colleagues.
3. Cost-Effective Professional Growth
Traditional professional development can get quite pricey once you add in conference fees, flights, and hotels. In comparison, online PDH courses cut those costs dramatically, so you can learn as much as you want. What’s more, many providers offer affordable packages or even free webinars approved for credit.
And even if you hit the minimum PDH requirements, the cost savings make it sustainable to keep learning. This will not only boost your knowledge but also your career.
4. Broadening Career Opportunities
One of the underrated advantages of online PDHs is the ability to explore beyond your core discipline. A mechanical engineer interested in renewable energy can find online courses in solar or wind power systems. A civil engineer can choose to branch into project management or sustainable design.
There’s no limit to what you can achieve with online PDH courses as far as broadening your career opportunities is concerned.
Build Your Credibility With RocketCert’s PDH Courses
Online PDH courses may seem like just a convenient way to maintain your licence, but they do a lot more. They are a career accelerator if you take them seriously. They are what you need to build long-term credibility and position yourself as a leader in your field.
Ready to start rising in your career? Visit rocketcert.com today to see what they have for you.
