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this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2026
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The problem with that is that “Engineer” is too broad a term to require chartership in every single unrelated discipline.
Unrelated discipline? Why would you claim to be an engineer if your work was not related to engineering?
It would make sense to call yourself an engineer if it’s your job to engineer things, which by definition means to design any kind of complex system for some kind of practical use.
“Engineering” is not itself a discipline (branch of study), but instead a category of disciplines. Civil, mechanical, industrial, chemical, and electrical are the core five disciplines that people typically associate with the term engineering, but you can engineer complex logical systems as well, like software or computer networks, and an infinite number of others.
My point is that trying to gate by protected title “Engineer” on its own is impractical because it’s just a broad concept. It makes more sense for each discipline to create some sort of licensing system and protected title that conforms to that particular discipline.
I see what your saying. It's a broad concept but the process for professional recognition can accommodate that. The topic at question is how do we ensure engineers are ethical in how they operate and professional registration and protection of the role along with the assurances that go with that are a good way to achieve it. I know in law in Australia you must be registered with the local law regulator to practice and members must adhere to strict ethical standards. If you are reported and found to be breach those standards you will not be able to practice any more. Meanwhile engineers are polluting and building weapons ad nauseum with limited repercussions. Engineers are held accountable in most regions legally but laws usually apply to safety, not building/designing unethical things.
So I find the UK a good example of how professional registration can be done well. Each discipline has an organisation that handles chartership specific to that discipline. The IET does a lot of lifting for all things electrical, including communications/telecoms, but I believe they would cover some software engineering depending on what your focus was. BCS, CISec or IfSE would likely cover most software engineering.
My experience tends to be with the IET. They are internationally recognised and have branches in a lot of countries. If you have no local support within your company they will connect you with an existing chartered member in your field who can help with advice and chartership application review. I know with Engineers Australia you can migrate your chartership from the IET to Engineers Australia without too much difficulty. Engineers Australia is a single organisation for all disciplines which is then open to the issues you mention. The UK orgs are all regulated by the engineering council which manages a consistent specification for all orgs to hold their members to, the orgs then review applications specific to the discipline against the requirements of the spec.