5 ms·

If you do the same job, and do it equally well, why should you have a different title?

pjmlp 9y ago
Because the skillset is not the same. It is quite different to have spent 5 years doing nothing other than building up engineering knowledge, and just learning a few things to get the job done.
- erispoe 9y ago
  It's not "just learning a few things". Some software engineers have years of experience on the job despite no CS education. In the end it's about how much value you bring to the company. If your diploma helps you deliver that value, great. If not, your diploma is irrelevant. I'm always very weary of companies that tell me I'll earn more money because I have a PhD completely irrelevant to the job I'll be hired to do. It signals that they're valuing the wrong thing, and that doesn't make me want to work there.
  - pjmlp 9y ago
    If they don't have an engineering degree, they aren't engineers.
    - closeparen 9y ago
      Is engineering a credential, or an activity?
      - pjmlp 9y ago
        It is the knowledge gathered along 5 years of studies, the activities that put into practice that knowledge and the certification of the quality of the teachings.
        erispoe 9y ago
        So, a credential? In the countries and states where the title is protected (it's not everywhere), you often have to pay dues to a professional organization to claim the title. It's not enough to have the diploma, you have to pay every year too.
        pjmlp 9y ago
        It is a two step process. Engineers are only those with an university degree from an university acknowledged to actually be teaching engineering. Then if they want to actually make use of the title, get the credential, which yes requires an yearly contribution. Finally, in any kind of project where human lives are at stake, the engineer signing for the project has to be validated as such. I happen to think that our profession is no different from lawyers, doctors, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, and so on.

Because the skillset is not the same. It is quite different to have spent 5 years doing nothing other than building up engineering knowledge, and just learning a few things to get the job done.

erispoe 9y ago
It's not "just learning a few things". Some software engineers have years of experience on the job despite no CS education. In the end it's about how much value you bring to the company. If your diploma helps you deliver that value, great. If not, your diploma is irrelevant. I'm always very weary of companies that tell me I'll earn more money because I have a PhD completely irrelevant to the job I'll be hired to do. It signals that they're valuing the wrong thing, and that doesn't make me want to work there.
- pjmlp 9y ago
  If they don't have an engineering degree, they aren't engineers.
  - closeparen 9y ago
    Is engineering a credential, or an activity?
    - pjmlp 9y ago
      It is the knowledge gathered along 5 years of studies, the activities that put into practice that knowledge and the certification of the quality of the teachings.
      - erispoe 9y ago
        So, a credential? In the countries and states where the title is protected (it's not everywhere), you often have to pay dues to a professional organization to claim the title. It's not enough to have the diploma, you have to pay every year too.
        pjmlp 9y ago
        It is a two step process. Engineers are only those with an university degree from an university acknowledged to actually be teaching engineering. Then if they want to actually make use of the title, get the credential, which yes requires an yearly contribution. Finally, in any kind of project where human lives are at stake, the engineer signing for the project has to be validated as such. I happen to think that our profession is no different from lawyers, doctors, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, and so on.