dan0hJul 4, 2023

Hello Fediverse - its time for a potentially controversial poll; if you'll indulge me. Its based on a statement I heard in my place of work a few weeks ago.

The question is this... Should the title "Engineer" be protected (I know it is in some countries) worldwide, and reserved strictly for those with an Engineering degree of some form?

The poll will be open for one full week, and please do feel free to chime in with comments :)

#education #poll #degree #qualification #chartership

Yes - An academic background is essential
41.9%
No - What about those with natural aptitude?
58.1%
Poll ended at .
Show threadMostlyBlindGamerJul 4, 2023

@dan0h I have a degree, but don’t use the title, because it’s protected in my jurisdiction. I don’t need it, because I’m not interested in doing “classical” engineering.

I think the schism here relates to the definition of the word, its modern usage and it’s status.

A civil engineer is very different from a software engineer, which may or may not end up being a software developer.

Ultimately, you’d want that protection of the title for protecting people: so only certified and experienced individuals are building bridges.

Show threaddan0hJul 4, 2023
@MostlyBlindGamer Great points, thank you! I think I'll take this forward as a wider discussion at the end of the poll, I'll clarify my stance and status - I'm really interested to see how people feel about it.
Show threadMostlyBlindGamer

@dan0h thanks, I’ve had conversations about this before, so I want to see where this goes.

I’ll also add that we have more modern words for things we used to call being an engineer, like “maker” or even “hacker.” The world has changed a lot since we were building trebuchets.

Jul 4, 2023 at 9:43pmWeb
Show threaddan0hJul 4, 2023
@MostlyBlindGamer Absolutely, there are some really interesting boundaries here, like where a maker verges on an engineer (of some form or another), so indeed I'm really curious about the wider opinion.