No, Grant's statement is probably right. "Engineer" is a protected term. He's only entitled to call himself one if he's licensed to be an engineer by (presumably) California.Originally Posted by Extravoice
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No, Grant's statement is probably right. "Engineer" is a protected term. He's only entitled to call himself one if he's licensed to be an engineer by (presumably) California.
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Well, the reason that he said it was he was soldering a crystal to a stick, which in turn would be soldered a string connected to a rheostat. He was having some difficultly with making the stuff stay together.
I think the statement was meant to ironic, considering his electronic/robotic skills, engineer or not.
Solfe
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'That was tops! Who's not good at math? I was all, "Four!"' - Finn, Adventure Time.
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Completely off topic: That's always been a major pet peeve of mine. I was a pretty good engineer for 20 years before I took the stinkin' exam. And passing didn't make me a better one. I really don't know why I bothered except that the company offered free tuition to the refresher course. I'm not sure why I'm keeping it up-to-date now that I've retired, either.
Completely on topic: I'm with Henrik on the line wrap thing. That's a case of BREAKING something that didn't need fixing.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt.
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... Or drives a train.
Established Member
I don't think so. Professional Engineer is a "protected term" and requires licensing, but an engineering degree is sufficient to call yourself an engineer in these parts (not counting that train operator issue the Kaptain mentioned). My first job out of college was as an official US government "0855 Electrionics Engineer" and I didn't need a PE.
Of course, other countries may have different rules.
Back on topic, that is the worst wink ever!
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In this state, if you advertise yourself as an engineer, put it on your business card, or anything of the sort, the state board will come after you. Regardless of your education or expertise. I get their quarterly newsletter in which they report on doing just that. There's a loophole for engineers working for companies, where they are required to work under the "direct supervision" of a PE. They don't bother enforcing that, however. It might be humorous to see them going after Boeing if they found one of the many "Chiefs" wasn't a PE.I don't think so. Professional Engineer is a "protected term" and requires licensing, but an engineering degree is sufficient to call yourself an engineer in these parts (not counting that train operator issue the Kaptain mentioned). My first job out of college was as an official US government "0855 Electrionics Engineer" and I didn't need a PE.
Of course, other countries may have different rules.
Back on topic, that is the worst wink ever!
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt.
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Your location is listed as near Grover's Mill. If that's in New Jersey, then you are incorrect. If it's not NJ, then never mind.
From the New Jersey State Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors regulations:
13:40-3.1 Licensure requirement; issuance and display
of certificate; advertising
(a) A person shall not use the title "professional engineer,"
"engineer" or its substantial equivalent or otherwise represent
to the public that the person is licensed to practice engineering
in this State unless that person is licensed by the Board.
Also:
13:40-3_2 Licensure exemptions: acceptable measurements
by professional engineers
(aJ The following persons shall be exempt from the licensure
requirements of N.J.A.C. 13:40-3.1:
...
3. An employee or a subordinate of an individual holding
a valid license issued by the Board or an employee of a
person exempted from licensure by (a)1 or 2 above, provided
that this practice does not include responsible charge
of design or supervision;
4. An officer or employee of the Government of the
United States while engaged within this State in the practice
of professional engineering or land surveying for that
government;
Established Member
Thanks geonuc. "Engineer" is one of those terms that has an official meaning that is sometimes different from the common usage. (See any discussion of the term "theory" for a perfect example.) There are engineers with a PE license, engineers with a degree but no license, the people who operate locomotives (who certainly must have some specialized certification) and the dreaded "tack the term engineer onto any thing you want" type of engineer (i.e., domestic engineer). If you're looking for an engineer, be sure to specify exactly what you are looking for.
Administrator
These posts have been split off the software upgrade thread. There were a couple of transitional posts I left behind.
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That makes me think of this Utah Phillips song.... Or drives a train.
Established Member
Partial definition:
An engineer is someone who can take the dreams of a PhD Theorist, and turn them into reality; sometimes with much cursing of said Theorist in the process.
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actually, it is an experimentalist that turns the dreams into reality, then the engineer makes them useful
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My wife always says "Nurses and Engineers have schizophrenic children."
I am not exactly why she says that as her dad is an engineer and her mom is a nurse. Maybe she was trying to scare me off?
Solfe
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'That was tops! Who's not good at math? I was all, "Four!"' - Finn, Adventure Time.
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My mom is an Operating Room RN, my father a nuclear engineer (both now retired). But I turned out perfectly fine (by the way, I posed for that wink smilie.)
STARGAZING: All I see are the lights of a billion places I'll never go. --Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary
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I think it's a fairly common combination, I'm the offspring of a nurse and an engineer as well,
__________________________________________________
Reductionist and proud of it.
Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn. Benjamin Franklin
Chase after the truth like all hell and you'll free yourself, even though you never touch its coat tails. Clarence Darrow
A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read. Mark Twain
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Engineer married to nurse here. Our 3 grown children are all fine but none of them are even remotely involved in engineering or nursing. Maybe that's necessary. Shall we split off another thread?
In most states you can't get a PE license until you have 5 years of experience anyway. What are you until then?
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They can do for a shilling what any
fool can do for a pound!
No I dont understand it either.
Established Member
I'd never hear this saying before, but have an idea of what it means.
Quite a bit of an engineer's job is optimization. I can over-design a deck for my house, but a PE can tell me how strong the beams really need to be. My deck will cost a pound to the engineer's shilling, because my structure will be overly conservative in design.
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I don't know about that, but I've heard that Asperger's syndrome is common in engineers.
The Engineer's Disease
I wonder how common Autism is in children of engineer parents.
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I think you'd be safer with an SE on that job.
Last edited by Cougar; 2011-Oct-06 at 01:30 PM. Reason: link
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
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PE refers to being licensed, so I'd probably want an SE with a PE license.
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Or, in this state, a PE who has sat the supplemental Structural exam.
I've been told I build my catapult frames too light. At least the latest one. It hasn't broken yet so I figure it's probably too heavy.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt.
Established Member
In the UK we really messed up a couple of centuries ago so anybody can be an engineer. To get to be a chartered engineer you need a degree in engineering plus industrial experience and a sponsor to confirm your professional attitude but having done that there is no exclusivity under the law. In germany the equivalent is Dipl. Ing and to be in charge of an engineering project you have to be one in Germany. It's too late now to put it right. (End of rant)
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That is pretty amazing that those two professions "hook up" so often. I am really going to ask my wife what she means by that.
Solfe
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'That was tops! Who's not good at math? I was all, "Four!"' - Finn, Adventure Time.
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Engineer-in-Training (EIT), provided you've passed the exam for that.
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As I was 20 years out of college when I took it, I found that exam much tougher than the branch exam I took six months later. The EIT exam is (or was at that time) a general exam given to all types of engineers, including lots of stuff I'd forgotten because I simply hadn't needed it. Thank FSM for the refresher course and even more for the book that came with it, which I took to the test.
At the Mechanical branch exam, I was worried about having to handle HVAC related questions -- not my field at all. I needn't have been. Although fully half the questions were HVAC, you only had to answer half the questions to complete the test!
Net effect of getting licensed on my career: None whatsoever.
Net effect on my life: Loss of time taken up by two tests and associated refreshers, and $75 every two years for maintenance. I'm sort of sorry I bothered.
I think there's a new name instead of EIT now, but I don't remember what it is.
ETA: The EIT is now called FE, for Fundamentals of Engineering. Apparently it's now closed-book, unlike when I took it, and is tailored to specific branches. Linky. I don't know what you call someone who's passed it these days.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt.
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I believe you're still called an Engineer-in-Training.
You're right about the EIT exam. I describe it as "Design the universe. Show your work."
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I was really surprised by this thread (as an engineer) as I was completely unaware of such requirements. Even though I worked for a while in the US.
The wikipedia article linked earlier says that qualifications in the UK include "having a driving license, being physically fit, and not being color blind". That is setting the bar pretty high
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Dilbert reference: http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1997-01-30/
Get up, a get-get, get down.
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In the airplane biz we called that "dual load path". Can be a real pain in the empennage but sometimes saves lives.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt.
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