Poll: Do you need a degree to be an official engineer?

[polm]

I have friends who graduated with varying engineering degrees. I've been in the IT business for about a decade, and I've steadily moved my way from a lowly PC technician, to my current position as a "Network Engineer".

These days, I build and maintain voice/data networks that support the IT infrastructure of one of the largest Wireless/Telecom companies in the nation.

I'm happy to call myself a Network Engineer when people ask what I do, but my friends with engineering degrees like to tell me I'm not a "real engineer".

What do y'all think?

 

[Sukhoi]

You're not a real engineer. You didn't spend 4-5 years doing homework and labs 24/7.

I will say your position is far better than those "refuse engineers" and such that people call themselves.

 

[da loser]

that's ok, IT folks aren't considered engineers anyway

 

[ebaycj]

Originally posted by: polm
I have friends who graduated with varying engineering degrees. I've been in the IT business for about a decade, and I've steadily moved my way from a lowly PC technician, to my current position as a "Network Engineer".

These days, I build and maintain voice/data networks that support the IT infrastructure of one of the largest Wireless/Telecom companies in the nation.

I'm happy to call myself a Network Engineer when people ask what I do, but my friends with engineering degrees like to tell me I'm not a "real engineer".

What do y'all think?

"Real" Engineers build useful things from base materials / components.

While designing a network is somewhat similar in concept, it is just not the same.

Take a few circuits / signal processing / digital logic design classes, and then tell me that you don't agree.

 

[her209]

The proof is in the cake.

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: ebaycj

Originally posted by: polm
I have friends who graduated with varying engineering degrees. I've been in the IT business for about a decade, and I've steadily moved my way from a lowly PC technician, to my current position as a "Network Engineer".

These days, I build and maintain voice/data networks that support the IT infrastructure of one of the largest Wireless/Telecom companies in the nation.

I'm happy to call myself a Network Engineer when people ask what I do, but my friends with engineering degrees like to tell me I'm not a "real engineer".

What do y'all think?

"Real" Engineers build useful things from base materials / components.

So a carpenter would fall under the category of "engineer".

 

[jme5343]

"Real" Engineers run the throttle, blow the horn, and listen to instructions from the conductor. Oh yeah, they wear those goofy striped hats and overalls as well.

 

[Codewiz]

Actually this is real simple. You aren't a REAL engineer unless you are a PE.

That requires working under a PE for a certain amount of time and passing the test.

 

[3NF]

I guess it depends on what type of engineer? Food services engineer?

I don't think a degree really matters. At the end of a workday ask yourself, "Did I provide any value added to the world we live in today?". If you can say "Yes" to that, then the title doesn't matter.

 

[Strk]

The guy seems to do ok in engineering without a degree

Then again, I think it's more of a debate over what constitutes an engineer, since a degree isn't everything.

 

[moshquerade]

Engineers will say you do need the degree, and others most likely won't.

 

[Engineer]

Answer to OP: No

Oh, and there is only one Engineer!

Originally posted by: moshquerade
Engineers will say you do need the degree, and others most likely won't.

This one will not. I've worked with "Engineers" that have lifelong (40 years plus) experience built into their titles even though they don't have a degree. Learning from school or the job, no difference to me. Just because you don't use complicated equations in your daily work does not take away the fact that you are indeed an engineer. My 2 cents.

And I also disagree that you have to be a registered PE to be a real engineer.

I'll throw in another: Having an engineering degree has nothing to do with being an engineer other than the title on paper and I back my statement up with people that we have looked at hiring or have hired over the last 10 years and have no clue how to apply anything in real life, whether learned from the book or on the job itself.

 

[Codewiz]

Originally posted by: Strk
The guy seems to do ok in engineering without a degree

Then again, I think it's more of a debate over what constitutes an engineer, since a degree isn't everything.

You can become a PE without a degree. It just takes like 10 years of working as an engineer under a PE and passing the test.

 

[simms]

No, you're not.

You need to be a P.Eng.. http://peo.on.ca/

 

[Ameesh]

title are meaningless anyway

 

[91TTZ]

It all has to do with people's sense of entitlement. Guy A will think he deserves more respect because he has a piece of paper that says XXX, while guy B will argue that he's more legit because of YYY.

You will find people who don't consider someone else their equal even if that other person is smarter than them, is better at the same job, etc. The guy with the sense of entitlement will still think that he's somehow more legit because (enter a reason).

 

[techs]

Considering the Mars Probe crashed because the designers confused meters with feet, apparently you don't even need to be a rocket scientist to be a Rocket Scientist.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: Sukhoi
You're not a real engineer. You didn't spend 4-5 years doing homework and labs 24/7.

That's irrelevant.

What if guy A has no degree but is an engineer by trade and designs spacecraft, while guy B got an engineering degree from college but works as a gofer at an engineering firm? Who is the real engineer?

 

[3NF]

Again, the title doesn't matter - it's all about what you provide to society

Doctors - :thumbsup:
Lawyers - :thumbsdown: - worthless
Scientists - :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
The Apprentice - :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown:

 

[senseamp]

It depends. Did you engineer a new network topology or did you just hook things up like it says in the manual?
It's not about degrees, you can certainly call Bill Gates software engineer. But you do need to design new things.

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: Codewiz

Originally posted by: Strk
The guy seems to do ok in engineering without a degree

Then again, I think it's more of a debate over what constitutes an engineer, since a degree isn't everything.

You can become a PE without a degree. It just takes like 10 years of working as an engineer under a PE and passing the test.

Do the same rules apply for doctor? :Q

 

[KillerCharlie]

You can call yourself whatever you want (sanitation engineer), but NO, you are not an official engineer unless you have an ABET accredited degree.

The PE thing is a bunch of BS. I'm in the aerospace industry (we design airplanes and rockets) and not a single aerospace engineer I know has ever taken the PE.

If ABET doesn't say you're an engineer, you're not truly an engineer.

Even if you have an actual engineering degree, some companies won't hire you unless it was obtained at an ABET accredited university.

 

[miniMUNCH]

I do think the PE exam is the true test of engineering knowledge in a given field.

But I don't think you have to have a degree to be an engineer. But I also think way too many job titles include "engineer" in an attempt to boost "job satisfaction" so the company can pay less for the position.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie
You can call yourself whatever you want (sanitation engineer), but NO, you are not an official engineer unless you have an ABET accredited degree.

The PE thing is a bunch of BS. I'm in the aerospace industry (we design airplanes and rockets) and not a single aerospace engineer I know has ever taken the PE.

If ABET doesn't say you're an engineer, you're not truly an engineer.

Even if you have an actual engineering degree, some companies won't hire you unless it was obtained at an ABET accredited university.

A piece of paper doesn't mean much compared to the capability of the individual. Someone could have that ABET piece of paper but still suck as an engineer.

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: miniMUNCH
But I don't think you have to have a degree to be an engineer. But I also think way too many job titles include "engineer" in an attempt to boost "job satisfaction" so the company can pay less for the position.

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer