Here in Japan you can hear someone calling themselves a software engineer, fresh out of a bootcamp. The original meaning of engineering has gotten lost over the time, diluted by a sense of self-importance.
Imagine a world in which we let the bootcamp grads build our bridges and medical devices (Therac anyone?).
I don’t mean to be a gatekeeper. Keeping someone from practicing medicine if they won’t get a degree is not gatekeeping by anyone’s definition.
„Trust me, I am a software engineer“ just doesn’t have the same ring as „trust me, I’m a doctor“
The risk of criminal liability in many countries is most likely low, as long as you keep the anglicized term and not call yourself Ingenieur (engineer) in Germany or for example 工学者 (こうがくしゃ, kougakusha) in Japan, both of which imply that you have a degree in engineering.
To make things more confusing, the information technology qualification I possess in Japan called 基本情報技術者試験, loosely translated as fundamental information technician, is often translated using engineer instead of technician.
Some countries do over software or information engineering degrees, with a professional body regulating them, but I find that to be the exception.
> The original meaning of engineering has gotten lost over the time, diluted by a sense of self-importance.
The original meaning is "someone who builds machines, particularly siege engines, or who constructs defenses against those machines". Is that really what you're complaining about?
Perhaps you're referring to the meaning "a guy who shovels coal into a train engine"?
Imagine a world in which we let the bootcamp grads build our bridges and medical devices (Therac anyone?).
I don’t mean to be a gatekeeper. Keeping someone from practicing medicine if they won’t get a degree is not gatekeeping by anyone’s definition.
„Trust me, I am a software engineer“ just doesn’t have the same ring as „trust me, I’m a doctor“
The risk of criminal liability in many countries is most likely low, as long as you keep the anglicized term and not call yourself Ingenieur (engineer) in Germany or for example 工学者 (こうがくしゃ, kougakusha) in Japan, both of which imply that you have a degree in engineering.
To make things more confusing, the information technology qualification I possess in Japan called 基本情報技術者試験, loosely translated as fundamental information technician, is often translated using engineer instead of technician.
Some countries do over software or information engineering degrees, with a professional body regulating them, but I find that to be the exception.
The battle is already lost.