ASET Technology Alberta Winter 2021 - 25

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(L-R) Three generations of strong, independent women: Kerrie-Lee Scott
with her mother and grandmother.
One of the many professional hats Kerrie-Lee Scott wears is as a certified
welding inspector.
About seven years into her career, she approached SAIT
about finishing her diploma program but was advised that
too much time had elapsed and she would be required to
start all over again.
Then, one day in 2019, everything changed: she learned of
ASET's competency-based assessment program. Launched
by ASET in 2016, the program is designed to create a level
playing field for engineering technology professionals who
have not graduated from an applied science, engineering, or
information technology program or who are unable to produce
academic transcripts. This includes engineering technology
professionals who haven't followed the typical academic
path into their careers or who have come to Canada
from another country.
The program enables qualified engineering technology professionals
to gain purchase in their career fields without
having to return to school full-time. Those seeking certification
and an ASET designation (C.E.T. or C.Tech.) now undergo
a competency assessment. This includes submitting
documents - such as CV, job descriptions, and references
- confirming their work experience locally and abroad. They
then complete a single competency exam to validate their
technical knowledge at the technologist level, as well as an
ethics and law exam.
Scott reached out to ASET, forwarded the requisite documentation,
and expedited fulfilling the program requirements
by writing and passing the mandatory exams. By
2020, she had achieved her certified engineering technologist
designation (C.E.T.) - the gold standard by which most
engineering technology professionals are measured. With
C.E.T. in hand, she accepted a senior program planning role
with her current employer and received a wage matching
her certification and all those years of experience.
For Scott, who had done the work of a C.E.T. for years but
without the commensurate pay, this was a transformative
accomplishment.
" I'm now compensated in line with my
level of experience and responsibility
and I have ASET to thank for that, " said
Scott. " I felt I'd made a big mistake
at the start of my career and paid for
it for years. It was important to me
to close the loop on it. I'm grateful to
have had the ability to do that. "
" Kerrie-Lee is a shining example of the positive outcomes
for engineering technology professionals that we hoped
would result when we launched this program, " said ASET
CEO Barry Cavanaugh. " ASET is not only the only engineering
technology association in Canada that has created and
made available this program, it's also the only regulatory association
in Alberta that has done it. "
TECHNOLOGY ALBERTA | WINTER 2021 | 25
ASET Technology Alberta Winter 2021

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