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Comment by wdb | Hacker News Reader

Do you need a license to be a software engineer? Sounds like its a protected title like in some other countries

In a lot of countries “Engineer” is a protected title. (Same in Germany where “Ingenieur” is protected). The term is usually used for mechanical engineers, and the like. Jobs you can only do with a degree, because if you fail, lives could be at stake.

We actually had a Canadian colleague request to change the job title in the employment from Software Engineer to Software Developer due to these restrictions.

That's asinine when there is no associated professional licensure requirement for cobbling together HTML for a mom&pop liquor store.

In the US, any type of (non-locomotive) engineer involved in critical engineering design, decisions, implementation, and manufacturing of large-scale or life-safety aspects can or should be a "professional engineer" (PE) so malpractice insurance (EPLI) will cover them and client/employers will hire them.

If I say I'm a witch doctor, there is no confusion that I'm not a doctor (of medicine).

My undergrad major was Computer Science & Engineering. Do I need an extra certificate to call myself "an engineer?" Nope.

The liquor store wouldn’t be at the top of my list for licensure requirements for software engineers.

But what about power plants, cars, trains, aviation, etc. Especially car entertainment systems have been glaring security problems.

Opinions and jurisdictions differ. The problem is that some jurisdiction might define “software engineering” such that an individual without a license (and not under supervision of someone with one) could get in trouble for doing software development rather than describing themselves as an engineer.

This is actually something some people want. Don’t let them achieve it.

At least not in Portugal, you can work as a software developer even without going to school.

That doesn't necessarily mean that you can testify in court as a professional software developer without going to school

If you wrote the code, you can testify to whatever you want. But commenting on someone else's code, that's probably a job for the engineering order.

In the US, there are a dozen or so legally-protected "engineer" title variants and professional designations like "professional engineer" (PE). My degree is accredited for the path of PE, but I would need a reason to go that route.

If it's unlisted, then it's fair to use by anyone:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_professional_designati...

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