[ale] What's my job title?

[Alex Carver]

On 2017-05-09 12:35, Jerald Sheets wrote:
> 
>> On May 9, 2017, at 2:30 PM, Alex Carver <agcarver+ale at acarver.net 
>> <mailto:agcarver+ale at acarver.net>> wrote:
>> there's still the need for
>> an engineer to be diligent with designs when it's a health/welfare
>> issue. 
> 
> You mean like designing, building, and engineering solutions for application of 
> surgical procedures, timekeepers during said procedure, dispensing via process 
> control any drugs or anesthetics, and the like?  Not done correctly with the 
> right attention to detail and process, and people die.
> 
> Fun story:  we had an old app that only ran on Win31 in surgery at the hospital 
> I worked for.  Went down mid-surgery and backup was in another surgery 
> (multi-vehicle serious wreck).  We didn’t have the time to build one, so I took 
> my desktop and installed the software over Wine and ran it long enough to access 
> the DB, pick up mid-procedure with the process and then see it to the end.
> 
> I even had to scrub up and babysit the thing … LOL
> 
> “I run Linux.  I save lives."
> 
> 
> I’m not denigrating professional engineers in any way.  Hats off to those who 
> put in that time and pass that rigor to have the right to be called “PE”. 
>   However, one who “engineers things” that has significant danger and/or health 
> and welfare attached to it /are/ an engineer… just not of the Professional 
> Engineer sort.  I think that’s the issue when you have a word that carries 
> multiple meanings, some noun and some verb…some generic and some very specific.

My only issue is with the use of the word "engineer" in the context of a
person calling themselves engineers when they are not by a legal
definition (meaning a document certifying them as such whether it be PE
or accredited degree, etc.)

My office-mate does a lot of circuit and mechanical designs for his
work.  However his degree is in astrophysics but he isn't permitted to
call himself an engineer because that's technically not his training.
The rationale comes from legal requirements.  So anyone at work with an
engineering degree can be called an engineer.  My office-mate can call
himself scientist or physicist.