Right, they do. Not everything an engineer does is engineering.
> A structural engineer I know uses software to design beam strengths in buildings. He understands what the software is doing, but he didn’t write the software and he uses the outputted parameters at part of his designs.
I've worked with formula-plugger engineers, too. But they would, now and then, misuse the formulas because they didn't understand its limitations. And, if the problem didn't quite fit the formula, they were dead in the water. While they had engineering degrees, I considered them mechanics.
> A mechanical engineer I know needed to design a gear to mesh with an outer ring gear. He uses proprietary software to define the shape of the gear, entering necessary parameters and the output is generated into a CAD file.
Could he design the gear without the CAD tool? If he could, he's an engineer. If not, he's a mechanic.
P.S. I'm all for using labor-saving devices. But they are not a substitute for understanding.
P.P.S. The guy who programmed the CAD tool is an engineer.
I remember one formula-plugger "engineer" I worked with. His results were off by a factor of two, so I got called in to find out what went wrong. I quickly found out that he was misusing the formula. I explained to him where he went wrong, over and over, but he refused to believe it as the formula was king.
Another "engineer" spent a couple weeks trying to eliminate the noise in a circuit, essentially trying things at random. Finally, an actual engineer was called in. In 10 minutes, he had calculated an RC circuit to fix it, and the noise went away.
Having an engineering degree doesn't guarantee competence.
Right, they do. Not everything an engineer does is engineering.
> A structural engineer I know uses software to design beam strengths in buildings. He understands what the software is doing, but he didn’t write the software and he uses the outputted parameters at part of his designs.
I've worked with formula-plugger engineers, too. But they would, now and then, misuse the formulas because they didn't understand its limitations. And, if the problem didn't quite fit the formula, they were dead in the water. While they had engineering degrees, I considered them mechanics.
> A mechanical engineer I know needed to design a gear to mesh with an outer ring gear. He uses proprietary software to define the shape of the gear, entering necessary parameters and the output is generated into a CAD file.
Could he design the gear without the CAD tool? If he could, he's an engineer. If not, he's a mechanic.
P.S. I'm all for using labor-saving devices. But they are not a substitute for understanding.
P.P.S. The guy who programmed the CAD tool is an engineer.