My dad’s BS degree in 1958 was Electronic Engineering. The usage changed at some point.
I’m an engineer (civil/environmental), am fairly literate 
, and do not think that “electronic engineer” is a commonly used title today.
It’s properly either an electronics engineer or an electrical engineer, IMHO.
Thank you.
An interesting side note to all this is that for many years the Department of Electrical Engineering at MIT increasingly became involved in computer science, because there was no other department in which it fit and academic inertia kept them from making any sweeping institutional changes. Thus you could get a prestigious degree from MIT in electrical engineering and still be incompetent at installing a light switch!
The name was finally changed to the Dept of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, but now they’ve ventured into advanced high-density electronics and artificial intelligence. So you could still get an advanced degree in electrical engineering and be unable to install a light switch!
You could always be an EE and not be able to change a light switch, because that is the job of an electrician. I’m an EE, I can change a light switch (though I’ve never learned that in my studies), but there are many things I’m clueless about that every electrician knows.
ETA: what I wanted to point out with this: an EE is NOT an advanced electrician. Both professions overlap, but are also very different.
Of course. I just found the dichotomy amusing.
My late older brother had a PhD in both psychology and computer science, and the intersection led him to become a leading proponent of the computational theory of mind. But he had no end of problems with the stupid software on his PC, probably more than the average person because he was so impatient and intolerant of stupidity.
There was almost no overlap between the things he knew about and the things that, say, a software designer at Microsoft knew about.
They did that at UC San Diego when I was there too (it’s since been changed again). They were known as EECS geeks.
For all of my career, I worked with computers, software AND hardware, also software developing. I knew developers who were brilliant, but totally unable to install a program or, God beware, change a board, even just open the case of a computer.
If anyone doesn’t like civil engineer as a counter example, try structural engineer, mechanical engineer, or aeronautical engineer. None of those roles are made of structure, of mechanism, or of air.
If someone tells you they’re a spine doctor, does that mean they’re made of spine?
The whole discussion is 4th grade wordplay.
Are you new here?
Truly, what were you all THINKING? 
Nope. Just easily whooshed it seems.
I think that’s quite wrong, and the key differentiator in your flawed examples is the “-al” suffix. Which makes all the difference between, say, an “electric engineer” (one imagines a 1930s style robot with blinking Christmas tree lights) and “electrical engineer”.
For that reason, there’s no linguistic problem with “aeronautical engineer”. Now, “aeronautic engineer” is a different matter. Here I would imagine either a high-flying acrobat, or a bird, both with engineering degrees.
Good thing no one calls themselves that, then. And “spine” is a noun, not an adjective.
As an aside, I think the “civil” in civil engineer was originally short for “civilian”, to differentiate them from regular engineers - who designed engines of war, like trebuchets.
Are Electronic Engineers good at selecting appropriate cables?
For real. “I know what the person meant, but because I feel smart when I pretend that meaning derives programmatically from etymology, I’m gonna call them a dum dum!” is peak stupid. I would come down like a done of firm-but-fair bricks on any of my fourth graders who tried that nonsense.
Depends on the voltage… . Everything above 230V is the work of the devil.
The accusation of “peak stupid” against some fun and friendly banter seems deeply ironic coming from someone who just recently said:
Pardon my pedantry once again, but “done” is not a generally accepted unit of measure, though I appreciate your interest and attention to this matter and all its minutiae.
Your fun and friendly banter is neither fun nor friendly. But congratulations, you did catch a typo from my voice to text typing! Cookie for you!
SHITCOCK!!!
(Sorry, I thought this thread could use a palate-cleanser.)
Using filth to cleanse? Very, very strange of you.