Software engineer is detained by U.S. Customs to prove that he’s an engineer | Hacker News Reader

Software engineer is detained by U.S. Customs to prove that he’s an engineer

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62 pointskimsk1128 comments

This sort of BS has always been happening, just like the cops have always been treating people like crap. It's only recently become fashionable to report on.

Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13741746

Back in 2013 my wife and I traveled to Victoria from Seattle and on the way back the immigration officer took us in and 'interrogated' us because her documentation was wrong. She was on a student visa that allowed re-entry but we got married recently before 'voiding' the visa. They held us for 30 minutes and kept telling us 'That's a lie. You told us a different story earlier.' We never changed our stories (it was a very simple story. We went to Victoria for 2 nights and came back). She is Japanese and I'm an American. It was a terrible experience and I can only imagine how badly it has amplified now with our president's words.

Can you work in USA on B1/B2 visa?

He's not an engineer and likely can't prove it. In the US you need state certification to be qualified as an engineer.

You don't need some certification to be an engineer, all you need is to do some engineering.

You need state certification to be a PE or licensed engineer, but in the US very few engineers bother to get this qualification. Even where it is required, usually the PE has to sign off (and take responsibility for!) the work of others.

And while PE has certain advantages, like all such things it can also be a racket. I remember when I was an undergrad, MIT planned to change its ME (course 2) requirements. ASME said, "oh no you don't; if you don't require all the courses we say the MIT degree won't qualify on its own for PE licensure." And the Institute said "OK." I was not course 2 but I never heard that MIT's degree was ever considered inadequate for PE.

Did you read the article? It's not about being a PE, it's about being an actual software engineer and getting told to "check if a binary search tree is balanced" to prove it.

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