It's not easy to get either. You have to prove that you have a total or 15 month experience for one or 30 for both, be approved by the FAA, take a written, oral, and practical tests on 3 areas including General, Airframe, and Powerplant. From what the FAA inspector told me, there is a total of 2700 questions. From the time you start the first written test, you have a total of 24 months to finish the whole process.
So, why my thank goodness? It seems that until I go in to take that test I have years, hell it was explained i could take 10 years to study if I wanted to. It's a good thing too, I got the study guides for Airframe and Powerplant last week. Both are over 500 pages long and talk about things I don't understand because those were not my areas or systems.
Where's the Matrix way of learning when you need it? I'd love to just download this stuff into my head.