Wire and Cable Technology Blog

I rather see my kid become a politician, you just have to be a good orator

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlJsPa6UwcM

My son is microwave engineer. He worked for the national broadcasting company but after two years the microwave division were sold/privatized and the new owner fired all the engineers. It was very hard and took about two more years to find an other job in the microwave area.

"'real' professional" - thats an interesting topic. Anyone that owns a screwdriver is called an engineer. You would not be allowed to call your self a doctor just because you own a stethoscope or a lawyer just because you can lie through your teeth and evade a direct question (or is that a politician?).

What exactly are the requirements for one to be called an engineer?

Regards

Mr. W.A Snow

Well, I can only speak about how it is in Germany, yet I hope this will help: Her in germany you are only entitled to carry the title engineer (German: Dipl.-Ing.) after you have studied a corresponding subject at an university or an university of applied sciences and have successfully passed the required exams. If you got your degrees at an university, you can pursue your scientific career by working on a doctoral thesis.

I assume that this is quite comparable to a "certified engineer" in the US. Please correct me if I am wrong!

regards

nudnik

"Engineering - the transparent profession."

I would much rather see my daughter be an engineer than a 'real' professional, whatever that means. Ultimately, I would rather have her do what makes her happy though. In my biased opinion, being an engineer is an honorable career choice and one that can enable you and your family to live comfortably.

Professional is a very misleading term, there are plenty of bad doctors, lawyers, and engineers out there that are "professional".

Boy, the Term "real professional" sort of rubs me the wrong way. Engineers in the US are professionals. You can not use the term Engineer unless you have an ABET accredited degree and have passed both the 8 hour exams. Keep in mind that the last exam can not be taken until you have worked for four years under an already licensed engineer. The program in the US pretty much guarantees that you have to be a professional. It is required to protect the safety of the public. The only other professional that can have such a large impact on the public is a politician and those fellas and gals, sure don't act professional all the time. My circuits professor use to remind us "a doctor messes up and he kills a patient at a time, a lawyer messes up, he sends one person to prision at a time, an engineer messes up and he kills a lot of people at one time!"

The profession is in need of quality young people, but they don't need to have the wrong view of the profession or take it lightly. A so so engineer is someone that is an engineer from 8 to 5. A good engineer is an engineer all the time.