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You can be an engineer without an engineering license. Safety-critical jobs usually require a professional engineering license, but there are a lot of engineeri
by NOGDP 7y ago
You can be an engineer without an engineering license. Safety-critical jobs usually require a professional engineering license, but there are a lot of engineering work which is not safety-critical.
- SECProto 7y agoWhen it comes to civil stuff (i.e. the safety critical thing people think of when they hear engineer - bridges, buildings, highways, flood protection...) you absolutely can't call yourself an engineer without professional accreditation in every jurisdiction I know.
- NOGDP 7y agoEven then (buildings for example), I believe some of the work can be done by non-licensed engineers. Stuff like land surveying, some electrical, CAD/modelling work, design of plumbing, heating, etc. can be done without license. I know a few people that aren't licensed but work on condos as engineers. I'm guessing a lot of the stuff has to be reviewed/approved by a licensed engineer, but that could be 1 to 5 licensed:unlicensed for example.
- SECProto 7y agoDefinitely! Engineers don't do all the work. But if you're working in the field, you don't call yourself an engineer unless you're licensed. (For context: I work in the field and am not a registered engineer, though I studied it in university. I would never call myself an engineer)
- richk449 7y agoYou have an engineering degree, but you wouldn’t call yourself an engineer? What do you call yourself?
- SECProto 7y agoAn engineering graduate, or an engineer-in-training. You can call yourself an engineer once you have several years of experience, pass some exams on law and ethics and whatnot, and get a professional designation.
- ballenf 7y agoDo the ethics courses focus on when you’re allowed to call yourself an engineer?
- zo1 7y agoThat is downright ridiculous, sorry. You are an engineer, just not a "certified" or "accredited" one for some sub-set of tasks/things/requirements. The fact that we have to even discuss this as if saying you're an engineer is some ultra-taboo because people might "mistakenly" allow you to do mission critical or potentially dangerous work without asking for your specific accreditation is disturbing and Orwellian-like policing of plain language.
- journalctl 7y agoNo, it’s why actual engineering isn’t currently suffering the influx of unskilled dilettantes like software is.
- NOGDP 7y agoGetting an engineering license doesn't require much in terms of skill beyond what you'd learn in undergrad.
- slavik81 7y agoThe work experience requirement is pretty important, though. That's how you learn the practical side of the field. I have a degree in EE, but there's a 0% chance I could safely design electrical equipment. In school they taught me how to analyze circuits, but I know nothing of the electrical code, let alone practical matters like mechanical stresses on wires. Without somebody to learn from, I would learn a lot of things the hard way—when the design fails.
- 7952 7y agoI guess this confusion is why a lot of professions use "chartered" to signify this.
- OJFord 7y agoChartership for engineering most certainly exists, and there are many good reasons it should be more popular within software engineering.
- ajdlinux 7y agoThere's only one state in Australia that has mandatory registration of engineers. There are several more states that are currently starting up mandatory registration schemes, and of course the national professional bodies operate voluntary registration and accreditation schemes. Now of course that doesn't mean that you can just start building bridges as a non-accredited engineer, I expect the courts would look unkindly on you in a negligence lawsuit if your company had engineers that couldn't demonstrate their professional qualifications and development. This is seen as a problem and the professional bodies are pushing more states to adopt mandatory registration, so we'll see more of that in the next few years, but it's not like Australia is a land where bridges fall down weekly without mandatory registration.
- danielscrubs 7y agoThe funny thing is that civilingenjör (engineer) is a protected title in Sweden. Also amusing that it's a Swedish person fighting with the American mindset (My Constitutions!). It's very rare to see those.