[perlgeek]

If I ever reach the level of an IBM Fellow or similar as a software engineer, I won't care about whether you'll call me a "software scientist" or "man with long beard" or "that guy". I promise.

> The engineer becomes a kind of nomadic hermit (“Principal Engineer”)

"hermit" implies some level of isolation. Is that really the case of distinguished/principal/fellow engineers? Is there any evidence or data available?

[michaelochurch]

Principal and Distinguished are, usually, titles added to convince HR to pay market salaries.

    Mgr: "We'll need $140k to get him."
    HR: "The band for Senior Engineer is $100k to 125k."
    Mgr: "So you can't do $140?"
    HR: "Nope."
    Mgr: "What if I hire him for a *Principal* Engineer position?"
    HR: "I need to talk to the CFO about whether we need Principal Engineers."