11–20 of 194 posts
Non-Engineers notice my iron ring surprisingly often (ie. "oh my old roommate was an engineer"). It's a great conversation starter.
It's fun to joke around before telling people the real story - "oh, this is my Serbian Mafia ring ... all the guys in Belgrade have them"
Sort of relevant: In Canada the word "Engineer" is protected. While I am a Computer Scientist, I can not call myself a Software Engineer (or any form of Engineer), unlike in the US. In Canada you must have graduated from an Engineering College of a University to use the title.
Similarly, countless people use the title Software Engineer, just as there are Sanitation Engineer and Train Engineers.
Because the PEO has more bark than bite.
As far as I know my year (2005) was one of the last years that U of T still offered an actual iron version, as opposed to stainless steel (most other schools no longer did at that time). I'm not sure if it's still possible to get one today. Another option was to get an old ring from retired engineers who were no longer practicing and returned their ring to be used by the next generation... something that I thought was pretty amazing and humbling.
Sort of relevant: In Canada the word "Engineer" is protected. While I am a Computer Scientist, I can not call myself a Software Engineer (or any form of Engineer), unlike in the US. In Canada you must have graduated from an Engineering College of a University to use the title.
I actually don't think that's strictly true. Although there might be a stigma associated with calling yourself an Engineer if you didn't go through an Engineering program, it is only illegal to call yourself a Professional Engineer if you're not properly licensed. Graduating from an Engineering degree (and/or receiving an Iron Ring) has no real legal protection or obligation. The licensing requirements to become a Pr…
Calling yourself an Engineer without having graduated from a CEAB-accredited institution is also illegal, just that people don't care nearly as much as bout this. You will occasionally see job postings and titles for "software engineers" from companies that don't know about this particular legal snag, and for the most part it's not policed.
You will sometimes see this dodged as "Engineering". "Junior Engineering" is a common moniker for someone who hasn't graduated yet, for example. The verb isn't protected, only the noun is.
Sort of relevant: In Canada the word "Engineer" is protected. While I am a Computer Scientist, I can not call myself a Software Engineer (or any form of Engineer), unlike in the US. In Canada you must have graduated from an Engineering College of a University to use the title.
But in practice though I've found that pretty much all programming jobs are listed as "Software Engineer" and you'll get that on your card.
Non-Engineers notice my iron ring surprisingly often (ie. "oh my old roommate was an engineer"). It's a great conversation starter.
But is that really the point? To proclaim how clever (I imagine) I am.
I think the ring is meant to be a reminder that I'm part of something bigger, something important. And that I have a responsibility to other engineers, and also to everyone else. That's why I try to make my code comprehensible to the engineer 5 years down the road. That's the "why" of open-source.
So that's why I think the ring is simple. Because individually I'm fallible and often wrong, and I need reminding.