As someone not in tech, I have no idea how to refer to my tech friends' jobs

The Picard Maneuver@lemmy.world to Programmer Humor@programming.dev – 884 points –
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"engineer" is different to "programmer". A programmer writes code, while an engineer does more than that, including system design and architecture.

A programmer can call themselves an engineer if they want. In my country there are no laws against it.

Therefore it doesn't matter what you call yourself.

In Canada the term "Engineer" is a protected title that only registered professional engineers may use. Claiming to be an engineer without such credentials is considered equivalent to claiming to be a doctor of medicine; It constitutes fraud.

That being said, I see all the time employers and employees, seemingly ignorant to this law, post "Software Engineer" in job titles.

Registered professional engineers in the software development space is a rare occurrence.

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