[Dalewyn]

I have an acquaintance who works for one of NASA's laboratories as a technician.

The simplified distinction as he explained it to me is:

Engineers are the guys who painstakingly design things, with reams of university degrees as appropriate for their credentials.

Technicians are the guys who painstakingly implement the engineer's designs on paper into physical things. Academic credentials not necessarily required.

The vast majority of the people who call themselves or are called "engineers" should not be called engineers.

[figassis]

There is also the subset of actual software engineers (incl. degrees) that are hired to rapid fire features. In fact most engineers are hired to do this, because move fast and break things. Usually telling a PM that feature X needs proper analysis and design and that can take multiple sprints, they go “how can we break it into smaller pieces so we can deliver each sprint”. Sometimes you can’t do that. You engineers simply get into developer mode.