[arcticfox]

> Programmers love calling themselves engineers, but they'd better be careful in places where there are consequences attached to the term.

At least in the US, you can refer to this case where the state of Oregon tried to be as anal about the word "engineer" as you suggest and got slapped down. The whole case was a lot of fun because not only was the engineering board using unconstitutional restrictions of free speech, they were on the provably wrong side of an engineering argument while doing it, demonstrating just how stupid the attempted restriction of speech was in that case.

https://ij.org/press-release/oregon-engineer-wins-traffic-li...

Perhaps in places where there is no First Amendment equivalent your suggestion holds weight.

[jeroenhd]

I suppose it can't work in the USA, then. The American idea of freedom of speech is pretty unique, though, so it shouldn't be that much of a problem in most of the (free) world.

[arcticfox]

Ironically, the (electrical) engineer who had his free speech rights protected in the case was Swedish. And the (correct) argument he was ultimately allowed to make in Oregon triggered an update in international guidance on traffic light timing. So the rest of the (free) world will actually benefit regardless!

https://www.ite.org/technical-resources/topics/traffic-engin...