[chroem]

>Elon ... is an engineer

Oh really? Where did he study engineering? When did he take the FE exam?

That's not a term that you can throw around all willy-nilly, especially in the context of hardware. Next, are you about to tell me that the CEO of Ford is also an engineer?

[robotresearcher]

Musk describes himself as an engineer. I'd say his demonstrated ability to lead major engineering projects qualifies him to use that title.

http://elonmusk.com/

The term "engineer" does not imply chartered/professional status in current popular usage.

[kilburn]

I just looked it up. The CEO of Ford (Alan Mulally) holds a masters degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering (among others). If you only allow for the term "engineer" to be used to refer to someone who has en engineering educational background, then yes, he is.

Musk, on the other hand, holds a degree in physics. He started a PhD program on applied physics, but quit to pursue his entrepreneurial interests. If you judge engineers purely from an educational perspective, then yes, Musk is not an engineer.

Nonetheless, if we look at wikipedia's description of what "Engineer" means, we get:

> An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics, and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems.

So, by this definition, Musk is an engineer...

[sqrlrgwright]

Alan Mulally (CEO of FORD) is a former Boeing engineer.

[not_paul_graham]

Given that some people go around calling themselves Happiness Engineer or Growth Engineer I highly doubt that people in SV care enough about the difference. Also you can major in Financial Engineering at Princeton so I don't really think people take the FE exam before calling themselves an engineer.

Although I do take issue with the above (happiness & growth) usage of the term, I'm completely fine with Elon calling himself an engineer because he actually did study engineering (albeit informally) via books, etc.