[snorkasaurus]

Or in a non-medieval context, an engineer is member of a professional association of engineers whose rights and responsibilities are legislated. And imo, anyone who calls themselves an engineer but isn't a member of a professional association of engineers is misrepresenting themselves.

[temac]

Highly depends of your region. In France being an "engineer" means having an official Engineering Degree, or simply occupying an engineering position (the degree is not strictly necessary, you can have another one or even none at all).

The common ground of engineers throughout the world is more simply that they practice engineering... (and yes, this has a meaning -- managing requirements and developing in accordance to business values and economics comes to mind -- and yes, this can be applied to SE, and this is even quite "simple" to apply, at least this is not more difficult than for any other field)

I don't really see why some people pretend all the time that SE is different or young and it is not proper engineering. I never read a convincing argument about why it should be so. Of course they are differences but they also are differences between other fields.

[proc0]

That's like saying no one can be an artist because they're not a member of the official artist club. I'm sure the term engineer outdates any professional association.

[snorkasaurus]

Actually it's just being respectful. I'm not an engineer, but I work with a lot of engineers who actually have the qualifications to call themselves engineers, so if I call myself one, I'm essentially lying.

[SAI_Peregrinus]

I am an Engineer, in that my degree is in engineering, and my job is in engineering.

I am not a Professional Engineer, in that I have not taken the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, passed, worked for at least 4 years under a Professional Engineer, and then taken the Principles and Practice of Engineering exam. So I can't put EIT or PE after my name, stamp projects which require it, or operate as a PE in any state.

[snorkasaurus]

I misspoke then. I would call you an engineer without your being a member of a professional association. I guess in my mind the degree is enough. I'll never have PEng on my business card, but you at least have the potential.