Describing Different Types of Engineers

The resource needed to assess this may be already present in the form of the CVs/resumés of the candidates logged in the firm's database...

I've been an engineer for ... wow, 27 years and I've done amost half of the positions you have listed. I also know design engineers that have done nothing else but design. Each and evey position is a speciality. I've worked as a manufacture engineer, (process engineer) most of my life and thought doing quality engineering was a walk in the park.... till I was assigned to be the quality engineer, I had to learn that all over again.

Best advice I can give is just match the job requirements to the resume.

Key point: Using electrical engineers as I am one -I engineer bulk power systems for refineries and off-shore platforms - I would be unqualified to design a CPU chip for a computer. As with MDs - a proctologist and a opthamologist are not interchangeable. The basic fundamentals are the same but after that career paths may diverge dramatically.

Ted

Thank you for your advice Sir!

When I think of engineering positions, I think of chamelions! Man, it would be really easy if you could pin down a few engineers (with the exact same job title) and get their precise job descriptions. Sounds like it will probably all be different with an underlying thread. Like another person in the forum wrote as well, I will need to do research and get on the job learning through experience in this recruitment sector.

Your comment gives me something to think about!

If you're looking for a comprehensive dictionary of standard engineering positions/job descriptions, forget it. There are as many descriptions as there are jobs.

Here's what I'd do: Get on Monster.com and other, similar sites, and search for each type of engineering position in your list and see what turns up in terms of job descriptions and/or resumes. Read every one carefully and take notes. You'll probably see common threads, but you might not.

One thing you will see is the vast diversity in even a single field. If you're planning to be very, very good at your new job, you're gonna have to do the research yourself - and that means a lot of research. There are no "canned," universal, generic engineering job descriptions just as there aren't canned, universal, generic people. Engineering is a human enterprise, and that means diversity.

Another angle you might approach with is to contact universities with strong engineering curricula and ask them "what is a mechanical engineer?" etc. You will get academic definitions, of course, with which practicing engineers might not agree - or they might. Academe can sometimes be rather isolated from "the trenches," so to speak.

I'd hit it from both angles, then publish your results - for a fee. For every new recruiter who asks the question publicly, there's got to be 10,000 who don't. You might as well be compensated for your research.

-e

Hi there 'europium'

Thank you so much for your advice and input. This has been really helpful and makes a lot of sense. I made the mistake of thinking that it is sort of cut and dried in the engineering sector, but this puts a new slant on things. I will have to then do a lot of research!

Thank you for your time and I will do my best!

PS: I love the comment about the dog! Classic

Thank you for thanking us! We don't always get thanks for helping folks out, manners being what they are these days. Oftentimes a guest - or even a member - will ask for advice on a particular problem or issue, lots of folks visit the poster's thread and put in their two credits' worth (ever met an engineer who didn't want to give advice, whether you wanted to hear it or not?), and no-one hears from the poster again. Not that the advice is always good, but it often is.

Again, thank you!

-e

IMO, a machinist title would generally not fall under the engineer category; engineering degree is not required but real experience and optionally completion of a recognized vocation program are. (My machinist skills have served me well during and after my schooling for an engineer).

Procurement? As in a purchasing agent? A business degree may be better suited.

In aerospace engineering, there are also many different "specialities," including: Propulsion typically including drawn, forged, cast, crystalline materials, etc., seals, internal aerodynamics, software (fuel controls, etc.); Airframe typically involving structural analysis of airframe members of metal and composite construction; Mechanical Systems and Equipment which include flight control systems, valves, motors, landing gear, de-ice systems, etc., Electrical/Electronic Systems & Equipment including avionics, software, : and Flight Test Pilots and Flight Analysis, etc. Of this small sample, some are in design, test, quality, manufacturing, materials, welding/joining, etc., etc. Again, engineers can move around within this field. As an FAA aero engineer, we can deal with everything from 50 year old technology including wood construction airplanes (recently) thru the latest Boeing and Airbus designs including the latest electronic flight information systems with synthetic vision, and enhanced vision, etc. As you can imagine, degrees can vary considerably from engineering (including some physics degrees) to avionics/software, welding, quality, aircraft maintenance engineering, flight test pilot schools, etc., etc.....

One major classification above all those you mentioned is

Entrepreneur Engineer

Free-lancer engineer

Employee Engineer

Because if you assume beforehand that you will recruit just employee engineer, then you are excluding an increasingly important sector of engineers, those thousands that work independently as contractors, subcontractors, consultants, etc, that have their own offices and laboratories and that offer their services under specific project contract basis.

At least here in Chile there are thousands of engineers that are no longer employees, but independent. This phenomenon is due to the complexities of labor laws introduced by socialist politicians that make almost impossible to most companies to afford the risk of hiring employee engineers and employees in general. It's ironic, but in the struggle of socialist politicians to introduce their collectivistic ideas, they have stimulated individual entrepreneurship at the maximum extreme in our history.

Do open an space for those engineers that are already independent, most companies are looking for them because they know that this engineers are self motivated to match all dead lines and the time is gold for them in the same sense as it is for their clients. For these engineers companies are not employers but clients.

Jaime Soto

Chile

http://www.matharts.cl/

Thank you Jaime

I did not know this at all about different engineers! We are having a completely different problem here in South Africa with Affirmative Action. Many of the job boards say 'AA position' at the bottom of job ads, so if you are the wrong skin colour, your application will not be considered. This is ironic in the sense that skilled engineers are being recruited for overseas positions, rapidly leaving the country, and now companies are trying to get them back... but in our present government black economic enpowerment (BEE) is the focus and the future, and the law for that matter. This will not change because majority rule is definitely not likely to change. A real pity! With the Soccer World Cup coming up in 2010, something better give otherwise we may be in trouble... I do not know enough to comment further... I just read the papers.

Thank you for your comment. This will help me. Interesting facts you mentioned.

The pendulum will begin its return swing once a government starts getting hit in its collective wallet. Money talks. The US has (and is) suffering from similar effects of Simplistic (governmental) Harmonic Motion. Here it's called "reverse discrimination." I was the victim of that once, when the job I was about to be hired for (we were at the point of negotiating pay and relocation packages) was given to a woman because 1) there were no women on the team, and 2) half of the project's funding came (with attendant strings) from Congress. She ended up turning down the job, but only after I had taken another position and had moved out-of-state.

South Africa's "brain drain" will eventually (if it hasn't already) impact the economy to such a degree that your government will have to reconsider its policies - or fail to attract and retain major industries. Our Midwest is in the same spot. Ohio, for example, has a negative population growth, for good reason.

-e

Hi Europium

I have been working in Recruitment in London for the last 4 yrs and came back to S.A end of last year. I hear that the UK and Australia has recently changed certain laws to enable more engineers and other skilled people to get positions overseas. I was shocked to search our main S.A job board to see that you can tick a box as to what person you will recruit. These are the options: African, Coloured, Indian, Female, Disabled.

Blatant discrimination, and in any Affirmitive Actions positions being advertised, the white male is your very last option. Some black empowerment companies will rather accept slightly less skilled people to fill the quota. We have about 2 million white people left in S.A out of a population of 60 million. A contact at a specialist finance and Engineering recruitment agency has not placed one white male in 3 yrs of her running this company. Quite a shocker huh!

Nevertheless, I am not saying white people do not get placed. It is just that those who can leave are doing so, and yes in time, this IS going to affect the economy and the country. It has already begun...

Time to move back to London, I'd say...

-e

I only came back because I married a South African who has his own business, but it is definitely our plan to move back! Engineering recruitment is in great demand at this stage and it is because of great development all around ( and I don't mean government housing!...) and the soccer world cup. They are opening up quite a few new mines as well so some Towns and rapidly expanding in areas. The only problem at this stage is that we do not have the infrastrucuture to manage the increase and therefore the main electricity supplier 'Eskom' cannot provide enough power. This causes power failure to major towns and cities nationwide peroidically. A while ago the Cape Town area was out for 2 weeks off and on. It was very frustrating watching the cricket with Pakistan VS S.A a few weeks ago when the stadium lights wents out (as well as surrounding area here in Pretoria). We lost the match when they resumed play (otherwise we were ahead!...) Anyway... I believe they are establishing new power sources but I do not have details. I hope we don't freeze our butts off in Winter because unlike England, we do not have double glazed windows and central heating... It is not really required of course. It will get flippin cold without heaters though...Temperatures here drop rapidly in the evening to the morning...

Anyway, it is not all doom and gloom... This is still a beautiful country with some really great people.

And then there are "Operating Engineers" who operate cranes, bulldozers and other types of equipment around construction sites.

All of the comments so far are good. The name "engineer" has been misused applied to many other trades to enhance their stature, ie. operating engineer (crane operator), and building maintenance engineer (janitor/handyman). I don't know where you are from, but in the USA it is of utmost importance what state you are in. In some areas it is illegal to use the title engineer, unless they are licensed. In the USA there are several main displines some of which are: electrical, civil, mechanical, chemical, and aerospace. A decade or so ago, there was a restructuring (across the US and parts of the world) to more consistantly define what an engineer is, and what they can do. The particular activities that they can legally perform is dependent upon the State that they are in. For example, the designing of potable water piping within a structure is performed by a professional mechanical engineer, while the piping outside of the structure are designed by a professional civil engineer. But, in New York there is only one PE license, thus either can perform the design work.

Like the other responses, I suggest that you do a lot of research. Start with the descriptions for the main disciplines, then widen your studies. Most licensed engineers have performed several of the job titles that you have listed during their career to enhance their ability to pass the license test and to be competent in their disipline. The job titles on your list, describe the specific job tasks that they will perform in their jobs (i.e. there are mech., elec., and civil project engineers that are tasked with overseeing or designing a particular portion of an engineering project).

Good luck......

I stand under correction but I think in S.A, they are more lenient on job titles... I have not heard about any law and certain requirement necessary to be classified as an engineer.

I have searched so many different job titles it is mind blowing. This really intimidated me as I thought I am never going to get my head around who does what, but like most of the guys are mentioning, just read the job spec and take it from there. As long as I have a general and basic idea on who does what. Thank you for your explanation. This site is excellent! I am glad I can speak to people who know what they are talking about.

In your list I found there is one important Engineer is missing , which is Instrumentation engineers. In this we have specialists like DCS engineers Control system engineers and Field instrument engineers, Analyser specialist ( to name a few) . We form a good part of any projects involving Chemical, Petrochemical and Oil& gas ( onshore /offshore ) projects.

With new technology devaloping we take different avatars !!

Once engineer you are always an engineer !

Thank you Nat. You guys are really helping me out!

And let's not forget about Sanitation Engineers - those hardy souls who take your rubbish from the curb every week - and the veritable Backbone of Society: Domestic Engineers. I was a janitor once, and in two years I cleaned roughly 8,500 potties. Consequently, with this experience under my belt, I can make a "loo" sparkle in about the time it takes most people to sneeze. We're the unpaid, unsung heroes of the world who, quite frankly, make modern civilization possible.

-e

There you go again. The point is hitting home. There are so many different types of engineers. I have not heard of either of these titles before.

I think I must look up the true definition on an 'engineer'.

THERE ARE TOO MANY TYPES OF ENGINEERS. I can't keep up!

Sorry. I must confess to cluttering up the playing field with useless verbiage (as those who frequent this forum will tell you). Those last two are euphemisms designed specifically to glorify the mundane tasks of garbage man and hausfrau, respectively. The latter term is interchangeable with domestic goddess. You don't need to look them up (unless you really want to), as you (and I) do have a lot of work to do.

-e

Hi europium

I am too gullible. Thanks for clarifying that! lol!

Sorry.

I once told my mom that the word "gullible" is not in the dictionary. She believed me - or led me to believe that she believed me and I fell for it. Yikes! Now I'm really confused.

-e

It is true that the word "engineer" has been misuse of late, being politically correct and all. You some time hear the title "sanitation engineer", and in reality, it mean garbage/rubbish pickup man. Or the title "domestic engineer", meaning housewife (but my wife much preferred to be called "domestic goddess" )

By the way, I started out as an industrial maintenance electrician. After I got my EE degree, I changed job and now I work as a maintenance electrical engineer.

MidniteFighter

Through all the replies I have not seen discussion of expectations.

Each engineering and technologist position brings with it expectations for the employer and the engineer. These include, but are not limited to:

Working independently or as part of a team.

Team-engineers, product dev. team, regulators etc.

Learn from mentor or teach oneself.

Does the engineer want stability or is he/she willing to take risks for the opportunity. (and does the employer want the same thing?)

Is the engineer expected to work with clients? With politicians/regulators?

Is interesting work the reward or is the compensation package most important.

I think you can see how this affects the recruiting process.

--I know too many smart and enthusiastic engineers who used to work in SA. It is natural that some distrust, disruption and discrimination occur in the wake of the 100+ years of colonial and post-colonial segregation. Now to get beyond that. I'm no longer working with anyone there, so I can only judge by news stories. I hope progress is better than it seems to be from here.

Good Engineers in the right jobs will accelerate that progress! Good luck.

Hi 'mandog'

Thanks for expanding on that. These are questions that I would cover... there is so much to discuss with clients and candidates.

In the last week I have been doing extensive job searches and this is helping as lots of the guys have advised.

Engineering progress in S.A... I do not want to stir or cause a political debate, because this is not what this forum is about, however, in response to 'progress', I speced a CV to a potential client today in one of the major and international companies in S.A. The HR manager asked me, before I carried on, 'is the candidate 'PDI?' (previously disadvantaged - meaning anyone other than a white male) I answered 'yes' because the candidate was a black lady. The potential client said to me, 'OK in that case, please send me her CV and we will look at it...'

Just one of many examples...

So naaa, the sad reality is that the laws of our land have been reformed to ostrasize white males, so until the constitution changes, equality and unity will more than likely not happen and over the next years, I am sure more white South Africans will hope to immigrate. In the last week, our government stated that he thinks the white population is racist because we complain about crime... Something is seriously wrong...

Anyway, recruitment in S.A, especially engineering recruitment is thriving, but it is not always easy to find the right candidate. The more I learn the easier my job will become.

Thanks for your input.

When the HR manager begins asking, "Is the candidate qualified?" and leaves it at that, S.A. will have finally arrived in the 21st Century.

Yes!... I totally agree...

But arriving in the 21st century in the 22nd century is going to be a bit late... You know what I mean!..

Yvielee, I like your avatar, but..um..kitty is really cute an' all, but, you know..um.....

Dang it! someone has pulled the wool over her eyes!

-e

LOL! The cutest kitties are usually the dumbest. We bonded there...