Replies

I am a graduating engineer in a different state. I will be going for my PE, even though I don't anticipate ever needing it. I've worked hard to be an engineer, and if I ever moved to one of the very strict states (like Texas), I'd want to retain the title.

The computer science students at my school get a BS, not a BSE. They do not take as much physical science, and they do not take engineering core classes (mechanics, circuits, thermodynamics, etc.) that are required of engineering students. The CS majors have no right to call themselves "computer engineers" unless they have an accredited engineering degree. I think it's absurd that garbage men are called "sanitation engineers" or tech support people are "computer services engineers" or some other drivel. In my opinion, if you do not have an ABET-accredited degree, you are not an engineer, period!

Getting a PE requires passing a Fundamentals of Engineering exam, having roughly 4 years of work experience after the FE, and then passing the PE exam. In my state and most others, this process is virtually required for civil engineers, but I only know of a handful of mechanical engineers (my major) that have a PE.

I'm currently pursuing a computer science degree, and I had to take two semesters of "engineering" (i.e. calculus) physics and several other engineering classes before I could get to where I am today. Even now we're learning about the intricacies of the basic building blocks of a computer -- bits, switches, and the like. Plus, we take statistics courses that are also geared toward engineers.

Now, the school I'm going to now doesn't have a degree program for software engineers, but the university I used to attend did have a degree program for that. It was a mixture of computer science, computer information systems, and computer engineering.

Speaking as someone who came into college a computer engineering major, I think this is all a bit silly. If you've passed the P.E. exam, definitely you should be considered a P.E. and should have that emblazoned on your business cards. However, if your job title in the rest of the 49 would be that of "software engineer" and you've got at least a bachelor's degree in computer science or C.I.S., then for heaven's sake you should be able to put that on your business cards! This should ESPECIALLY be the case if you had to take engineering courses along with your programming courses while pursuing a C.S. degree.

It would be very easy for me to, upon graduation, go back to my old school and get a computer engineering degree within a year. So maybe that will be my own plan of action, along with taking the P.E. Still, that's a bit much for being able to proclaim something I would be able to proclaim in the rest of the U.S.

Just my own little semi-biased opinion.