Colleges have "Schools of Engineering," and they are typically 5 year degrees. Engineers also have requirements such as professional required certifications and ongoing learning requirements, similar to CPA's, MD's and JD's. You have a reasonable guarantee that the person who is an actual engineer knows what they are talking about. "Software Engineers" have none of that.
To become licensed, engineers must complete a four-year college degree, work under a Professional Engineer for at least four years, pass two intensive competency exams and earn a license from their state's licensure board. Then, to retain their licenses, PEs must continually maintain and improve their skills throughout their careers.
>The only people that get pissed off by the use of the word are people that think people who write software are intellectually beneath them.
Great theory presented as a fact, but I write software for a living, so I guess that theory just flew out the window.
>If you have a PhD, that would certainly be fine.
Just like calling yourself an engineer if you actually had a degree from a school of engineering would be fine too ...
Honestly, if software engineering were treated like real engineers with licensure, required degrees, etc, we'd make a whole lot more money. Companies like to call us engineers because they can blow flowers up our posterior in lieu of actually paying us for it. Personally, I'd rather make double than feel good about myself.
Your whole justification is just that some engineers have tried to guard the term by forming schools and associations. However, unlike the stupidity of Canada, it's not legal to just co-opt a common nebulous term and ban everyone else from using it in the US.
Your argument as well as that Atlantic piece is just "they don't do the same things to what previous engineering fields did so it doesn't count." If that kind of stupid logic held, there would be no such thing as petroleum engineers or electrical engineers because neither of those were things for a long time.
To become licensed, engineers must complete a four-year college degree, work under a Professional Engineer for at least four years, pass two intensive competency exams and earn a license from their state's licensure board. Then, to retain their licenses, PEs must continually maintain and improve their skills throughout their careers.
https://www.nspe.org/resources/licensure/what-pe
>The only people that get pissed off by the use of the word are people that think people who write software are intellectually beneath them.
Great theory presented as a fact, but I write software for a living, so I guess that theory just flew out the window.
>If you have a PhD, that would certainly be fine.
Just like calling yourself an engineer if you actually had a degree from a school of engineering would be fine too ...
Honestly, if software engineering were treated like real engineers with licensure, required degrees, etc, we'd make a whole lot more money. Companies like to call us engineers because they can blow flowers up our posterior in lieu of actually paying us for it. Personally, I'd rather make double than feel good about myself.