Tidgy

lol, you can tell who the engineers are on here, they get very precious about who they think shuld be allowed to be called an engineer lol

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Chip, I agree.

That's why it irks me when someone who fixes washing machines or photocopiers etc. is called an 'engineer'. It cheapens what is a prestigious title.

legacy_gtb

iTrader: (3)

I have an engineering degree and experience! the degree got me understanding more than knowledge, and the hands on experience gave me something to apply that knowledge to .... one goes hand in hand with the other!

But saying that, ive been an automotive design engineer for years now and never been asked what degree i got!

If you want to get into design engineering, easyest way might be to get yourself a hooky copy of Catia V5 and play with it in your spare time. Then once youve got an unsderstanding of how the program works, invest £1k and a week in getting your ibm certificate and try and get into an oem as a cad jockey.

Your success at this might rely quite heavily on your ability to pick up a different way of working VERY quickly, but theres alot of work out there! And rates of £25+ an hour are pretty standard.

legacy_gtb

iTrader: (3)

Oh yeah, i also agree with the technician/engineer differential ..... if changing parts of a broken assembly makes you an engineer, why arent car mechanics refered to as automotive engineers?

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Too right. Someone who can take a pulse and mop up sick isn't a doctor, however good they might be at it - so why should someone who can clean the coffee out of a printer get to use the same title as the expert who designed it in the first place?

Chip

The fact that they designed it doesn't mean it's any good though does it.

john banks

Not all engineering activity is reserved for those who are chartered, certified, registered or regulated by a professional body though. So it is possible for someone unqualified like me to design/engineer something perfectly legitimately and win contracts based on experience and previous results over someone with an engineering degree. Does that make me an engineer?

Chip

It seems so:

The word engineer is derived from the Latin roots ingeniare ("to contrive, devise") and ingenium ("cleverness")

legacy_gtb

iTrader: (3)

I think that if you have self taught knowledge, that gives you the ability to "engineer" something then yes, you are a proffessional engineer! Alot more so than someone who can pull a jammed piece of paper out of a photocopyer.

Experience riding above the paperwork! As i said, ive never needed to declare my qualification when applying for a job, its always based on the jobs ive done in the past.

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

lol at the engineering snobbery.

As any decent repair technician worth their salt will tell you, it's quite often part of the job to contrive and devise a fix using an ingenium.