3 ms·
Terms have meaning, and words can refer to different terms. People quibbling about what's an engineer or not is about as helpful as the stupid hotdog sandwich
by coolKid721 1y ago
Terms have meaning, and words can refer to different terms.
People quibbling about what's an engineer or not is about as helpful as the stupid hotdog sandwich thing, it's arbitrary an engineer is not a determinate thing.
AFAIK the reason why the word engineer has some specific clout people get touchy about is because in normal engineering fields becoming a licensed engineer is kind of a big deal for them so they get really particular about it. I only ever refer to myself as an engineer to bother people who get cunty about it. Get over yourself, why do you care if a designer calls themself an engineer? Are you worried it'll make it hard to find other true engineers so you will have a harder time finding civil engineers to talk about how calling apis is basically the same as building bridges?
- OJFord 1y agoIn many countries it has legal meaning, and you can't just say you're an engineer, if you're not. (I'm not from one of them, fwiw. I had AEG send out an 'engineer' to replace a piece of plastic on a dishwasher; I've been emailed by 'customer support engineers'.) I don't think it's a 'get over yourself' thing though, SWE is fairly unique in industry in not making a distinction between engineers and technicians. I actually think the rise of LLMs might take us there, not necessarily the terminology, already abused as it is, but the distinction in roles between what were architects and senior+ engineers, and overseeing machinery.
- coolKid721 1y agoPeople using words in a way you don't like isn't abuse
- OJFord 1y agoI disagree with the premise, but even accepting it, isn't it? Isn't any abuse - physical abuse - just something we decide as a society isn't acceptable?