
Judge lets Oregon man call himself an “engineer” after he was fined for doing so - VotedforKodos
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/oregon-man-fined-for-writing-i-am-an-engineer-temporarily-wins-the-right-to-call-himself-an-engineer
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URSpider94
I veer back and forth between thinking that this is absurd and that it makes
good sense.

To wit: someone proclaiming "I'm a doctor" or "I'm a lawyer" and then
providing medical or legal advice, without a medical or law license, probably
wouldn't be too surprised if they got into trouble. It wasn't that long ago
when being an engineer was in the same class. Saying you were an engineer
usually meant that you had qualified as a Professional Engineer, which in most
states requires work experience, a mentorship or internship with a practicing
PE, and a knowledge test.

Today, just about anyone can be an engineer. Heck, I call myself one most of
the time when people ask me what I do. I've asked around my office, and we do
indeed have two or three PE's out of a thousand-odd "engineers"; all of them
are in their 50's.

It feels like the engineering societies are fighting a rear-guard action, when
they should have gotten ahead of the game if they really wanted to protect the
term. Much like Realtors(TM) have done [and yes, the word is trademarked by
the trade association and is always supposed to be capitalized]

However -- the real absurdity is that he was speaking on his own behalf, not
falsely representing or advising clients for money. To me, sanctioning him for
doing some solid math and physics is ludicrous overreach, and clearly the
court agrees.

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trendia
Temporarily.

> a federal judge gave Järlström the temporary right to call himself an
> engineer, pending the results of his case.

