First of all, I will state that I am not believer in any State, Provincial or Territorial board or association having the right of ownership to a word in the English language when used as part of a title, legislating that it can only be used by those who are licensed to carry out work in the various branches of engineering. Engineering being interpreted as what some of the people here perceive it that is. The boards and associations should concern themselves more with the misconduct and incompetence of some of their members.
However, there are some of you, and you know who you are, that insist on getting their knickers in a knot over this issue. Since the MCSE seemed to have been the whipping boy here, let’s look at him. Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer is not misleading to me. The words Microsoft and Systems tell me that the guy is in the IT business and the word Certified, being where it is placed in the title, tells me that Microsoft has certified him as being able to engineer networks using their products. The word Engineer however, certainly doesn’t make me lose sleep thinking that this guy is going to get involved in tall buildings or bridges when things are slow. Furthermore, his title is a little more imaginative and descriptive than “real” engineer.
The first time your local EMS network is down and brought back up pretty quick, give guys like these some credit as the do really engineer networks. You would be surprised what runs under Windows these days.
As a closing comment, a little professionalism is lost on some of the egotistic and snobby attitudes here. A four year degree, three Greek letters on a sweatshirt and membership in an association does not always make a good engineer. The comments regarding the medical profession, I won’t even acknowledge.
Angelo D. Papadakis P.Eng ( C.Eng, M.I. StructE.)