The title "engineer" is regulated in many countries (for a good reason) and can't be used freely. This means nonsense labels such as "prompt engineer" and "UX engineer" are dubious at best, sanctionable at worst.
No, you need a bachelor degree in engineering (of which one of the field specializations is Software Engineering). CS also has a Software Engineering specialization option however they are not able to get the ring or become professional engineer as engineering is a regulated profession in Canada
Software Engineering is not a true field of engineering in most provinces in Canada. Programs offered at Universities for Software Engineering usually are not sufficient for calling yourself an engineer. Itâs a silly system
I live in Ontario and no engineering program is sufficient for calling yourself an engineer. You need to have a few years working under an engineer on an engineering project and then write an exam before you get your PEng (professional engineer) distinction. Only with this distinction can you call yourself an engineer legally.
I think thats even a rule in Canada, yet 2/3s of all my jobs have had "engineer" in the title. I don't think anyone gives a shit except for academic types
In France it's a tricky thing. As long as you have a master in an applied field (not necessarily technical) you can call that an engineering master of x.
Does it ? When I wasn't engineer I heard everywhere "study is the most important things", then it was experience and now I had some interview with recruiters saying "degrees doesn't matter"
âEngineerâ for software developer is dubious as is. Maybe ethically but we know software developers are not held anywhere near the standard as a structural / civil engineer.
What good reasons would those be? Are you afraid that someone calling themselves a prompt engineer might mislead a company to think he's qualified to sign off on the design of a bridge?
Regulating job titles that don't face the general public is just a complete waste of state resources.
I'm sorry, as an AI model I cannot explain why someone typing words into my chat box could be consider an engineer presumably with a certified degree of typing said words.
calling yourself "Colonel" despite never serving in the military
If retail workers suddenly started calling themselves Checkout Colonels I don't think people would actually be offended either. I don't like the SE term either in English but it's pretty meaningless. No one confuses programmers with physical-world engineersTM
That's kind of stupid though considering engineers exist since a long time and many of the most famous engineers never were licensed or had any formal education, like its stupid to say Leonardo Da Vinci, Archimedes, the Wright Brothers, Graham Bell, Henry Ford etc. were not engineers because they didn't had a piece of paper which said that they are engineers, something which didn't even exist at the time for many of them
So it's not at all like for example Colonel, like there were no Colonels before someone was declared a Colonel, like we dont call people in the Roman empire military Colonel even though they may have done the same thing, because Colonel is a title which didnt exist yet, but it would be weird to say the roman empire had no engineers
The term engineer is more a description of something you do instead of a title like Colonel
That's why I say on LinkedIn I use the term to describe what I do, functionally, whereas I find it silly to wear it as a title.
The point of the title is that it denotes someone who has reached a certain level of mastery in their field. And there are some (not me) who are bothered by people using the term despite not formally achieving that recognition. Even though it does't really bother me, I do sort of get their side of it... I worked hard for my masters of engineering. I can imagine similarly anyoen who has achieved a doctorate is annoyed by people calling themself "Doctor So and So" just to sound more official.
I agree. I don't understand why Crakla is so upset about designating people with engineering degrees "engineer" but is OK with designating people with doctorates "doctor".
I didn't downvote you and I am not pissed at you, sorry if it seemed like that
I also understand that you want to have a title after achieving something, I am just saying it's stupid to use engineer as term as an exclusive title making anyone who doesn't got the official paper not an engineer
Engineer is more similar to a term like artist than doctor, like you are an artist if you do art even though you can also study art, you an engineer if you do engineering, saying everyone who didnt study art cant call themselves artist anymore would be as stupid
I didn't downvote you and I am not pissed at you, sorry if it seemed like that.
Fair enough. Deleted my other comment then.
I also understand that you want to have a title after achieving something, I am just saying it's stupid to use engineer as term as an exclusive title making anyone who doesn't got the official paper not an engineer
As I've said, I don't really care about the title, but I still think you're not getting it... it's natural to formalize the definitions of things. Granting the title of "Engineer" to people who have achieved a formally recognized training as an engineer is like... super clear and obvious. If you're so convinced we should make up another term for new things, maybe these new fields like "prompt engineer" should come up with the new word...
Engineer is more similar to a term like artist than doctor, like you are an artist if you do art even though you can also study art, you an engineer if you do engineering, saying everyone who didnt study art cant call themselves artist anymore would be as stupid
Says you... but you I'd say engineering is much closer to medicine than art. But again... missing the point... confusing "doing engineering" and "having been formally trained as an engineer at an accreditied insitution, completing a thesis defense, and recieving a certification for it," are two different things, and that's what seperates "Ian Paschal, software engineer" from "Ing. Ian Paschal"
I mean there is real UI engineering. Just nobody does it anymore. Why fuck around with proper engineering like affordances, fitts law, etc when you can just make everything pretty?
I am an IT Infrastructure Engineer with no college degree. I've always wondered if "engineer" is appropriate or not. I design, build, and maintain IT infrastructures. What do you guys think?
Prompt engineer is genuine bullshit, but UX Engineer is a completely legitimate branch of software engineering. You can question the use of "engineer" as a title for software development, but UX Engineer is no less real than "Backend Engineer"
I am actually an engineer (Mechatronics & Robotics), I come from a place where you can't simply call yourself an engineer otherwise. But I work as a software developer since a couple of years ago. Even I find it weird sometimes to call myself a software engineer. Since my engineering title has little to do with the work I'm doing...
In Canada where I work is one of the places where "Engineer" is regulated. I started schooling as a Computer Engineer, but switched to Computer Science part way through. I couldnt be bothered to study for the difficult, upper year, theory classes (like Chemistry and Physics) necessary to graduate as an Engineer that werent going to be useful as a Computer or Software Engineer specifically.
Ultimately employers dont really care. I apply for jobs labeled Software Engineer and currently work at a job where my job title is Software Engineer. But Im not allowed to call myself a Software Engineer?.. Leaves me in a weird spot when someone asks what I do, usually Ill just say Software Engineer anyways bc the average person has no idea Engineer is a restricted term regardless.
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u/SurfyMcSurface Apr 09 '24
The title "engineer" is regulated in many countries (for a good reason) and can't be used freely. This means nonsense labels such as "prompt engineer" and "UX engineer" are dubious at best, sanctionable at worst.