Independent "Engineers" Must be Licensed

Good thought, John. When I was at Motorola early on, we weren't allowed to list "Engineer" on our business cards unless we were licensed professional engineers. Personally I think the TEPA is wrong to stipulate this because of the nature of the engineering profession.

Our way around TEPA was to use the word "Engineering" as part of our title, versus "Engineer". Not sure how that lines up with the law, but that was the only way I could get business cards at Moto.

Yes, later on (I forget exactly when), I was able to order business cards that presented my title as "Engineer".

To get around potential lawsuits, engineers may consider using "artist". After all, much of engineering is truly an art.

Matt Genovese
Functional Verification Artist

While with Siemens, one of my job titles was "Senior Software Management Engineer" which seems just as strange now as it did then. What's a "management engineer" anyway?

Of course everyone in the business unit was an "engineer" of some sort if in title only.

Never attempted to use the term on my own; there were better options ;~)

expat IEEE member,

William W. (Woody) Williams
Project Management Consultant
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w3src Consulting

I prefer not to use the term "Engineer" since I am not a licensed Professional Engineer. However, my employer, like most others does use the term in titles such as Senior Software Engineer. And unfortunately, since its basically the industry standard, most people are stuck using it for their work titles even though it could be a source of confusion. I don't use the word in any (rare these days) outside work I do however.

Consistently my rant has been that too many people are denoted as engineers. "Customer Service Engineer"? When I hear that on the phone, I'm perturbed; unless that person holds an engineering degree, they're watering down the status of being an engineer.

Beyond what the State of Texas defines as an "engineer", across the nation the title is commonly (man-on-the-street) understood as someone who has at least graduated with a science/engineering degree in a technical field.

Agreed. "What is your ailment?"

I had a nice conversation with the "Sanitation Engineer" that picked up my garbage the other morning. :)

Just a question:
If you are a licensed professional engineer, and you find yourself looking for a new employer, do you NEED to tell that prospective employer you are a professional engineer. My understanding is that because of potential liability issues (the license essentially elevates your credibility in any court proceedings you might be involved with while employed with your new employer) you MUST tell your new employer.

Also, once identified as a professional engineer (i.e., "PE" after your name) it is very difficult to become detached from this association. This is why, when many years ago the State was offering software engineers the PE license simply for filling out the forms and paying the fee, I opted to NOT get the PE license. It limited which companies I could work for, and limited job mobility.

Did I understand this incorrectly, or have things changed?

I've heard of this before and in some cases it makes sense. You don't want claiming to be a Civil Engineer building your bridge, but he is not licensed a certified to do Civil Engineering. But what about people like me? I have a degree in Computer Engineering, it says so right on my degree. I worked hard for an engineering degree, why can't I call myself a Computer Engineer?

Yes, that was my dilemma, Mike. I received my Computer Engineering degree, and couldn't claim I was an engineer. However, it seems the circumstances have changed in our favor.