It depends who I’m talking to and where I live. Where I live, engineer is a protected title and requires certification/etc so that takes it out of the race. That leaves the other options. Generally I am a Web Developer to people my age or younger, to people older than me I am usually a Computer Programmer but also sometimes a Developer or Software Developer instead. Realistically, I am a Full Stack Website Developer.
Referring to my job doesn’t get any easier even as someone in tech.
At least in civil, the reason is because the professional engineer (PE) stamps all plans and assumes responsibility for said plans by doing so. Plans cannot be built without a stamp. This is the case because someone has to be found liable if a bridge should kill people, and it shouldn’t be the technicians, designers or EITs under the PE, because they don’t make nearly as much. With great pay comes great liability.
Lives ARE on the line. It was faulty software that caused the Boeing 737 Max to crash twice, killing 346 people. Software runs your car, the trains, rockets, literally everything.
I got told the difference between a software developer and an engineer is that an engineer factors in a products lifecycle and scalability and communicates this to their team and client
Serious question, not a native speaker: Why do people in the Anglosphere refer to mostly-software companies as tech companies, or to software developers as tech workers?
Because even in those companies many of the ‘computer people’ are not software developers. Tech workers is a catch all term for most people at those companies.
(Here's some more context: The button is in the UI, but it exposed a completely different function than advertised, probably due to being generated from copy-and-pasting the previous button)
I have rotated between countless titles over several decades. What I do hasn’t really changed. Currently I’m not even aware what my official title is and when someone asks I usually say something along the lines of I make IT go but in my native language.
I prefer Software Engineer, mostly because I studied at an engineering school and have a degree in Software Engineering. My actual titles have varied throughout my career, but I overall consider myself a software engineer.
I’m curious if you’ve looked up whether you’re allowed to call yourself an engineer in some states (US centric of course)? I read years ago that some states really frown on calling yourself an engineer if you aren’t a certain small range of engineers that they have codified (pun intended) in law.
Source: work in the industry, and “Civil Engineer” and “Professional Engineer” are legally protected titles. Other than that, it’s fair game. Like, there are “Design Engineers” in the civil sector that don’t have their Professional Engineer certification.
Same. My current role is most accurately DeOps or DevSecOps - my education actually predates “Software Engineer” but it was a Software degree from an Engineering school, and with a more technical focus than the similar degree from Arts and Sciences. But yes, every time I due process improvement, standards and practices, etc, that makes it “Software Engineer”. And every time I have to explain to developers how their stuff works, yes, I’m “The Engineer”, capitalized
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