Who cares? The word "engineer" is meaningless now and anyone can be a self-proclaimed engineer whenever they feel like it. Will anyone double check or even reject you for an engineering job when you are not? Absolutely not! Take a bootcamp, submit plenty of PRs correcting typos, and pass the interview with the help of AI and you basically made it, dreams come true!!
Agree 100%, even blue collar workers guard their profession. Hell, I was talking to a friend and they rejected her for a retail job because she had never worked in retail before. Engineering on the other hand has zero gatekeeping - it's a sign spinner job right now. Just do a few humiliation rituals like daily standup and you're the perfect candidate!
protecting it? ha! we’re just the first group of greater fools who thought it applied to us in the first place (hell, i became an “engineer” with an Associates degree!). just because we benefited from the prestige doesn’t always mean we’re actually held to the classical standards of engineers.
Yeah the term "engineer" has been diluted into oblivion, and we only have ourselves to blame for not protecting it.