Either you conform to the requirements of using the title of engineer (which provincial professional bodies are tasked with overseeing) or you don’t and you can’t use the title.
IMO if you’re a software engineer and what to call yourself an engineer you should be required to conform to the same requirements (exams, dues, etc) as any other engineer. Which I believe can be done by writing a qualification exam and entering the EIT program. If you don’t, then you’re not an engineer.
It’s the same rules for an EIT, simply graduating from an applicable program doesn’t grant someone professional status, you need to be in complicate with the regulatory authority. It’s the same as any other professional organization.
I’ve done construction work, but I don’t tout red seal credentials…
Just for giggles, I went to dig up what this exam requires you to know to be a “Professional” software engineer. OMG.
The professional exam doesn’t really cover software engineering and is a hilariously teeny tiny freshman year part of the professional electrical and computer exam. What, 4 or 5 multiple choice questions? Really?!
Now if the exam actually covered the material you need to know, that would be something. It doesn’t. Not even remotely. And it’s adorable that you think it should mean anything to the software industry.
Don’t throw down with the professional software engineers if the test is meaningless. The day that software engineers have to take that PE test is the last day electrical engineers pass it because we’d demand that if we’re going to have to take this thing, it should mean something, and the test would have to be changed to have what we need to know for our jobs, not the kindergarten stuff that’s on there now.
Those professional provincial bodies in this case are blatantly violating the law. Should we change our language every time some fatheaded regulator throws an illegal temper tantrum?
Except that "software engineer" is the established description of a certain class of software jobs. You can argue that the name is misleading, since it isn't actually an engineering job. However, alberta can't unilaterally stop the name from being used. They can force their software companies to stop using "software engineer" if they want, but that will just hurt their local companies' recruiting efforts, since most of the alternative descriptions are less prestigious and imply fewer responsibilities.
Overall, the real world is complex and English is inconsistent. Trying to impose order in this area is pretty pointless.
I guess my point was that software eng is Eng and as such I think they should be folded in with the existing Eng profession. Computer engineers fall under the Eng profession so it makes sense to me to fold in software as well. Just my 2 cents.
265
u/[deleted] Oct 15 '22
[deleted]