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submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by GamerBoy705@lemmy.world to c/softwaregore@lemmy.world

Reminds me of the Therac-25 incident..

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[-] doctorcrimson@lemmy.today 0 points 11 months ago

First of all, there is little to no requirement to be NCEES FE/PE or even EIT certified to work as an engineer in the USA, unfortunately. But if there was, then you would still have to fill out an application documenting your experience, which in the vast majority of cases would be an Engineering course from somewhere other than an ABET / EAC accredited institution rather than simply having no education. Maybe in Canada but I've got no idea how things work over there aside from they have stricter regulations on the title.

Anybody in the USA can call themselves an engineer, and most working programmers do.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

First of all, there is little to no requirement to be NCEES FE/PE or even EIT certified to work as an engineer in the USA, unfortunately.

In software "engineering," sure. In e.g. civil engineering, on the other hand, pretty much everybody's either gonna be licensed or on the path to it.

I guess the regulators don't consider software to count as real engineering, LOL!

[-] doctorcrimson@lemmy.today -2 points 11 months ago

I've never worked as a Civil Engineer so I can't really speak for it, but I cannot name any states that require NCEES certification and it certainly isn't federal.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I cannot name any states that require NCEES certification and it certainly isn’t federal

You conspicuously left out local jurisdictions, and guess what: that's where the requirements kick in (except maybe for trivial stuff, the city or county is going to want plans to have a P.E.'s stamp on them before they'll issue a building permit).

Also, NCEES certification and professional licensure isn't the same thing, so your claim was kind of a red herring in two ways. Licenses are issued by the state.

[-] doctorcrimson@lemmy.today -1 points 11 months ago

So what you're saying is that each city, county, or district decides on their own whether or not they hire an engineer who was certified by NCEES via PE/FE/EIT licensure? I decided to add a whole bunch of words to make it less confusing this time. Because states have constitutions and legislature in the USA, but township's policies can change by the acting leader. To me that's exactly the point I've been trying to make, is that the USA severely lacks any central system or regulation on who qualifies as an engineer.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

LOL, you're just quibbling to be argumentative. Are you going to try to make an argument that having 100% of local jurisdictions ✌️"decide"✌️ ✌️"on their own"✌️ to conform to nationwide standards of practice instead of having a "central system [of] regulation" makes any meaningful, practical difference, or are we done here?

[-] doctorcrimson@lemmy.today 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Coming back to this the next day I've realised you're shifting the goalpost here, my problem is that anybody anywhere can call themselves an engineer. I could care less if they cannot get a job as a civil engineer in 98% of towns. That doesn't solve my problem. Also, if you really believe that there will never be a case of some idiot hiring a non-engineer despite there being no regulation, then you have much higher faith in humanity than I do.

this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2023
825 points (98.1% liked)

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