[mbrock]

What would you call someone who's self-taught and mentored in the typical engineering practices (construction, repairs, engines, etc)?

Why would some national laws about certifications prevent you from referring to such a person as an engineer?

[jasonkester]

For four years, my business cards read "engineering". As in, does engineering work but cannot sign off on documents and thus is not an Engineer.

I left for software before sitting the PE, so they'd read the same were I to return to doing Mechanical Engineering work.

But of course it's silly to stand on principal on such things, so I've never taken offense to anybody calling themselves whatever they like. If the janitor can be an engineer, certainly anybody else can too.

I imagine Architects feel the same way. And Cardiologists will as well, when we start appropriating their title.

[Grishnakh]

You don't need a PE to call yourself an "engineer". Every working engineer calls himself an "engineer" on his resume. What you people are forgetting is the Industrial Exemption. Companies are allowed to call their employees engineers and use that word in their job titles because of the exemption.

The PE thing really only applies to stuff like civil engineering projects.