Cool, good luck with the new direction
Industrial and Sytems Engineer, here. In my previous life, I did process improvement, project engineering, wrote discrete event simulations, performed ISO/QS-9000 audits and ran a quality lab.
Now I do SQA, that is, I’ve made the jump to tech-weenie. I sit around writing scripts to automate software testing. Fun-fun.
WTF? It’s not supposed to let you post twice in a minute, that shouldn’t have happened!
Um…Hello, my name is thinksnow and I’m a double-poster.
[sub]Hello, thinksnow![/sub]
So what should I read into it, sweetheart (considering your long standing crush)? Here’s a hug and a smooch for good measure!
Hmmmm, well as I have mentioned in some rather older threads, my main function is as a Design Test Engineer for a semiconductor company. That means that I get to sit down with the chip designers at the start of the design and specification process, go over what will be tested and characterized on the chip, and then get to go off and start writing software and designing hardware to test these functions or tell them what needs to be changed to make the chip characterizable. Then, when the first silicon comes out of the foundry, I get the first samples from the wafer, and I run my tests and get to tell the designer where he screwed up and where the chip failed to meet its spec, I then help the engineer find the root cause of the problem so it can be fixed. Much of the work could be done by techs, but we need me and a few other engineers to do a lot of the new software and hardware design work. I should point out that I am not part of production, I do work with the people who write and design the production test equipment, but I don’t deal in pass/no pass aspects of our wafers. I help make sure that the design should pass in production, and basically get to decide the values used in the chips datasheet with regards to such things as operating voltages and timing extremes.
My other job is to decide the specs and to ride herd over the labs running as a whole.
My degree is in Computer Engineering, my background was in controls, and I’ve basically managed to shoehorn myself into semiconductors.
[sub]don’t tell porcupine, but it always seemed like a pretty cool job to me. Any chimp can code ;), but proper planning is the important part.
Thanks Falcon. 
But I ain’t a systems analyst. 
I find it rather sad that the only person I get a hug from is one of the few other women in this thread.
Umm, thinksnow, wanna check my quality? 
You don’t suppose that your name might be contributing to this paucity of hugs, hmmm? Ah, well, one engineer to another–{porcupine} (Ouch!)
I’m an EE. I suppose you think that means that I work with electronics. I wish I did; instead I’m doing support for a wireless office system (cell phone/PBX interface). It’s a thoroughly kluged system, and I despise it. Hopefully, I’ll soon escape to software engineering. I prefer hardware, but there’s no good path to it from where I am now. I’ve also done RF engineering in the past (cellular system design and optimization).
On my own time, I build special effects gadgets and custom electronics for various companies. Together with some friends, I’m also crusading against proprietary cables for a certain company’s control systems by marketing better, cheaper, easier-to-handle adapters. (Proprietary cabling is Evil and Rude.)
I keep forgetting that all my good friends are engineers. (Odd, huh?)
So…
hugs to Narile (I miss you in chat!!!)
hugs to Balance
And a BIG HUG to my fellow QA tech geek, thinksnow.
Well, this thread is getting hijacked pretty fast. Well, I’m here too. Most of you know I’m an Engineer - an “old-fashioned, watered-down definition” version. So…when does the party start?
Well, sure. But it might take a few hours…days, even.
Falcon, I’d be happy to give you a hug in a minute, I just have…uh, something to check on first
Anthracite
Maybe, once a long time ago, but I am afraid you have evolved into a well-rounded sort of lass, what with:
[ul]
[li]A fair bit of programming[/li]
[li]An on going Horror story[/li][li]And the ability to create instant rapport with whom ever stumbles upon you.[/li][/ul]
And that’s just in the last month.
{{Anthracite, Balance, Narile, Geobabe, thinksnow, bouv, pcubed, Pismonque, Watermelon Man, Tripler, FairyChatMom, deb2world, porcupine, Strainger}}
From another sort-of/almost engineer.
Britt
:hugs Gunslinger, slinks back to her lib-arts prep:
Hmmm…Engineers…Party…More hmmmms…Uh, never?
:: runs as fast as his fat legs and crappy lungs will take him ::
A million-three lines of C? So that was what, a phone list program?
Am I an engineer? My diplomas say so, but…
An interpretation of the North Carolina statutes is shown here:
Based upon this, even though I have a Master’s degree in mechanical engineering, and have passed the Fundamentals of Engineering exam (the first step in licensure), I cannot legally use the title of engineer. (Legally, I am an “Engineer in Training”.)
So, Porcupine, if you’re wondering why you get the snotty attitudes about your referring to yourself as a software engineer, that’s probably where it’s coming from. In NC and many other states, unless you’re a licensed PE (Professional Engineer), you’re not supposed to use the title of Engineer.
I get frustrated sometimes by the casual use of the term engineer — a garbage collector is a “sanitation engineer,” a homemaker a “domestic engineer,” and someone who has taken a Microsoft course a “Certified Netware Engineer.” Why is it that if I use the title engineer I risk censure, yet Microsoft can hand out diplomas left and right giving the title to people who haven’t spent a day studying engineering?
Philosopy aside, so this doesn’t appear to be a total hijack…
In my position as an Energy Analyst with a consulting engineering firm, I perform energy and water conservation audits on commercial, industrial, and institutional buildings, recommending changes the owners can make to save money on their utility costs and reduce the environmental impact of their operations.
And for any of you thinking of majoring in engineering because you hate to write ------
Probably one third of my time is spent writing reports or proposals.
** No offense intended to any professionals **
Hey. If you are interested, this was debated back and forth some time ago in this thread:
…which essentially was concluded with the point that my interpretation was wrong.
Next, note carefully the language in your quote:
Note the term “Professional”. I don’t believe it says you cannot call yourself an “Engineer” at all, just not a PE. However, this text is a little confusing in that it may be contradictory with the first portion:
Anyhow. Read the other thread if you are interested; you’ll see where I stood before I was knocked down.
Una, PE, Kansas.
Mostly I reminisce about things like:
The 12 inch K&E won shortly before graduation in a contest to determine who could manipulate with the highest degree of accuracy and speed. I still release it from its wrinkled and leathery sheath on occasion just to make sure I can get it to produce.
Having to bring in my own drafting machine on my first job because all that was normally provided was a t-square and some triangles. Even had to provide my own templates, like the 30[sup]0[/sup] ellipse guide.
The pride of bringing a solution from concept to fabrication drawings, then after others have built and installed it, to hear someone whisper, “Wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself.”
Nowadays I am asked to look at designs or processes or activities, and then offer any thoughts concerning issues that might aid or prevent that which is desired.
‘Engineering Consultant’ was once on the card, now it is merely ‘Consultant’. This is practiced mostly around steam turbines, generators, and the associated ancillary equipment, these days.
Retirement is sounding better and better, but I’m still having so darn much fun messing with the younster’s minds.
Tis a grand and glorious life we’ve led, my K&E and me.
Actually YWalker, I seldom get a snotty attitude regarding calling myself a Software Engineer (except in this thread from that bastard dropzone :D. I work with a lot of EEs, who are also not certified as a PE as far as I know. I don’t believe that is a requirement in IL. What I do tend to get a lot (and never from people I work with) is the following:
“Oh, you’re a programmer.”
“No, I do some programming, but it’s only part of my job.” “Well, to me you’re a programmer.”
“No, I have a four year degree from an engineering college. The main part of my job is problem solving, and the solutions are typically implemented in software. Programmers do not usually have four year degree from an engineering college.”
“Well, what’s the difference?”
:smack in the face:
I will certainly agree that developing software is still much more of an art than a science. But I had to sit through the core engineering curriculum at my college, which included EE, ME, ChemE. I suffered, my degree says Engineering, I have to follow a bunch of ISO processes, and that’s the word I’m gonna use, dammit. They wouldn’t let me put “Software Alpha Bitch” on my business card, anyway.
Nope. If I’m called an “engineer” then ANYBODY can be called an engineer in Illinois. Although I do know what Bawdysurfer is talking about when he says he’s been manipulating his 12 inch K&E.
As I have mentioned before, I consider myself a drafter. I used to be a draftsman, until we stopped all being guys. It’s an honorable craft, but I’m not an engineer, despite what a succession of business cards has said.
Shame about that. I can’t imagine a better desription.
<g,d,&r>
*** sigh ****
Shoulda known the topic had already been beaten to death before I joined the party. At least I didn’t try to open a new thread about it…
As you noted the wording on the statutes is a little contradictory in places. I feel it could be interpreted either way. But, since a lot of the top guys in the state government agencies my firm sometimes does work for are very much of the opinion that it DOES say that only PE’s may use the title, we pretty much toe the line to avoid antagonizing them.
Like you said in the other thread — I wish the profession could come to some kind of consensus on who could use the title “Engineer.” To me, it makes sense that anyone with a degree in engineering and/or with a PE license (since it is possible to be a PE without a degree) could use the title Engineer, and only PE’s could use the term Professional Engineer. The way the statutes work now, they can be used to inhibit degreed individuals from using the title while allowing others who have no background in the engineering profession to feel perfectly free to co-opt the title.
It’s our title ---- We stole it fair and square from the train drivers.