In any area of employment, credentials and experience matter. In a lot of electronic work or computer work, both hardware and software, the PE doesn't have a whole lot of relevance. I don't see why PEs should have a monopoly on the use of the word "engineer." They should only have a monopoly on the phrase "Registered Professional Engineer."
How do you admit that you don't know how something works and then simultaneously throw out an attack on "hicks" that do?
If you knew anything about PE's, you'd know that an accredited degree is only PART of being a PE. It includes essentially an apprenticeship of sorts under another PE as well as real engineering training. The object is for "booksmarts" to be augmented with the ethics of experience, something that book learning does not provide.
A graduate with an Electrical Engineering PhD from UTexas is no more automatically a "Professional Engineer" in Texas than a BSEE from Calpoly. That's the law, and it was created for good reason in the civil and mechanical and aerospace industries. Now in the electrical and computer engineering world, it's becoming very important for people building GPS systems and software, for example, that hikers might rely on for safety, that the developer's skillset be licensed.
That said, I think it's unlikely that EE's will pursue their PE nearly as much as their civil and aero cohorts because the job market for it just isn't there.
What REALLY needs to be stopped, which isa totally different thing, is crap like the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers misnomer. Microsoft is not any kind of accredited educational agency, nor are the people associated with this program involved with "engineering" anything at all.
“What about those who have not just an engr. degree from an accredited school, but one from a top rated Engineering program like Stanford or U of Illinois? For example a MS/PHDEE from Stanford? Can they claim to be engineers, or do they have to get permission from these Texas hicks? “
Well, for someone with such stellar credentials, the FE and then the PE exam would be a snap! Why not get it if you think there is value in being an “engineer”?
Those same texas hicks insist you have a drivers license too, who do they think they are?
On beef I have, as a PE, is the parochial way of individual state boards. Reciprocity between states should be easier, but that’s another matter.
You can title yourself what ever you want but law is specific. Washington State law is as restrictive as Texas. Additional post graduate degrees lessen the required time (bachelors degree and 4 years professional level experience) by 1 year for MS and another 1 year for PHD.
I know several college professors with multiple degrees that have never become licensed.
My goal was to become a PE and it took me twelve years between jobs and family commitments.
Yes I do think that some of these folks are true engineers but they should be required to have the same ABET accredited degree.
Texas could also come up with a separate license like Washington has for septic system designers.
“a top rated”
Says you, another example of a hick. I went to Standford and I wasn’t impressed. I sure as Hell wouldn’t automatically grant engineer status to their graduates.
The “Hicks” tend to become very very cautious when some richard-skull calling himself an “Engineer” blows up 300+ kids.