Continuous learning is an essential part of a successful career in engineering. Your skills and experience will count when you apply for IET professional registration but what you do to maintain those skills also counts very much. This is the importance of Continuous Professional Development or CPD.

What is continuous professional development is

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) refers to the process of continually maintaining, developing and broadening skills and knowledge throughout a person's career. It doesn't have to be through formal education.

CPD may consist of learning on the job, attending training courses, workshops, e-learning or even through study. It demonstrates to the IET professional registration that you are committed to your own professional interest and that you are active in your profession.

Why is CPD important for IET registration?

It seems the IET want to be reassured that engineers don’t stop learning after qualification. The pace of change in technology is so rapid that engineers have to keep pace.

CPD tells others that you have learned about new tools, techniques and standards.

CPD demonstrates to the assessors that you take responsibility for your own learning and professional development and that your knowledge is up-to-date and applicable in 2026.

How CPD Helps to Maintain Professional Competence?

Engineering is more than just technical work. It also has safety and ethics, and decision-making. CPD allows you to grow in these areas. It reflects how you develop through experience and how you exercise professional judgement. This further confirms your overall application and sustains your professional standing.

Relating CPD Processes,” To Career Evidence

CPD is at its best, when there is a transparent relationship to your work experiences. For example, A new system you'll be taught and then use at Work demonstrates real growth.

Any supporting statements you make, such as in a report or evaluation, CPD underpins those claims.

The ability to learn clearly also helps when writing structured documents, such as CDR report writing. It's important to clearly state your abilities and progress.

Common CPD Mistakes Made by Engineers

Most engineers only mention courses but don't indicate what they have learnt. This means that their CPD is pretty weak. For IET professional registration, you can improve by describing what you learned and how it contributed to your work. CPD is about progress rather than just representing attendance.