[nabla9]

"Engineer" can be either degree/qualification or position.

In software business there are no mandatory degrees, only positions. Person without formal education can be in "chief leading senior engineer" position if he has good personal track record.

Personally I like the word programmer more than engineer.

[tjl]

As they point out in the article, Engineer as a title is often regulated. I'm in Ontario and it's actually written in law that one the Professional Engineers Ontario regulates the use of the word. Microsoft was actually taken to court for the use of Engineer in MCSE (they lost and were fined). So, they dropped the actual words and left it as just the letters. Before them, Novell had the same issue. Individual people have been fined as well, but it all comes down to reporting. So, if someone is calling themselves a "software engineer" and they aren't accredited they'll get away with it as long as nobody reports them. If that happens, they'll be fined. The University of Waterloo (and I assume some other Canadian universities) has a software engineering program that's accredited and graduates can become licensed engineers. At Waterloo, it's jointly taught by the Computer Science and Electrical & Computer Engineering departments.

I actually have an engineering degree so I do take offence at non-engineers calling themselves engineers. I've done the work to become one, I've passed the requirements including the law and ethics exams while non-engineers haven't. My father worked for his whole career as a technician at Ontario Hydro doing work on nuclear and coal reactors and while there were engineers who did the same work, he never was called an engineer.

[aikah]

The issue is, it depends on the country. It might be regulated in Canada (and in my country, France, a developer can't call himself engineer unless he has the diploma) , but in some countries engineer is not a title, it's related to the task the worker needs to do. In most western countries, the title of doctor is regulated, that's just not always the case for the engineer title. The "technician" title is also a regulated in France. Is that the case in Canada? maybe, maybe not. My point is it may piss you off but your degree might be "meaningless" abroad since a self taught developer can call himself and apply for an engineering job.

[tjl]

True, but it's regulated in many western countries. I think it's regulated in the UK, much of the US (including I think California where many of these companies are), Canada, and apparently France.

A self-taught developer might apply for a software engineering job, but they won't be able to apply for a mechanical or electrical engineering job. My degree isn't meaningless. It's just annoying because people refer to hiring engineers when they're looking for "software engineers". I have training over and above simple technical skills that a developer wouldn't normally have (e.g., ethics and law).

[Turing_Machine]

What do Canadians call train drivers and the people who keep ships running?

[tjl]

Those are defined exceptions in the law. There's also a kind of engineer that deals with physical plants for big buildings, I think they're called Stationary Engineers. Those are also an exception.