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Thread: engineer, techie or something else

  1. #1
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    Default engineer, techie or something else

    i was browsing top5jam when i realised that wherever you go on the web, someone somewhere is misinforming you as to what they are about. ever notice that?
    lets have a virtual look rather than point out any one thing in particular.

    lets say you see a web site that says system technologies. now what would you expect to find when you go there? personally i would expect to find some kinda hardware which in some way helped systems. reality is, when you arrive there looking, you prolly find find its a web designing company. no hardware and certainly no system analysts, technicians or engineers. this is a regular occurance.

    lets try some more.
    you go looking again and there is a site with either digital or technologies attached and you think, wooohoooo, electronics. nope, sorry, you will actually be lucky if there is one of the myraids of services that actually do anything related to what digital or technology means.

    the next up on the list is engineers. yep, thats right, engineers today can be anybody, from the person that writes a web page right back to the person that washes your car. however, in between, the real ppl that get stuck in with machines( for that is where the word is centred around, ie engine and ingenuity) just doesnt exist in numbers in the very description.

    so i think im gonna go on a crusade, by emailing any company that sits on the web with a misleading name.
    i can see it now....
    so what technology do you sell? is it an electronic device or a mechanical one........oh no, its nothing like that......i see,.so what do you actually make then that is some how powered?......oh, its web sites and its powered by java and php with some html, shall we tell you about our hot specials on asp and cgi based databased engines sir?........NO, GWEY......facey ppl, wha uno tek dis ting fah, afta uno caa deferentiate between web designer and design engineer uno expect mi fi trust uno...... oh no sir, but we can integrate all you companies ideals in one hell of a front end...... ;D
    i know i wont win but hey.....its worth the fun at least.


    so anyone willing to tell me the difference between an information technologist, network engineer and a technician??

  2. #2
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    Default Re:engineer, techie or something else

    i was browsing top5jam
    sounds like a real cool thing to be doing .. especially if you do it everyday ;D

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    Default Re:engineer, techie or something else

    These days you're gonna find some overlap and blurring of classifications as people become more multi-skilled and job functions incorporate multiple disciplines. But I think there are still some clear distinctions as you have indicated.

    Here's my 2cents:

    An engineer is a broad term for people who solve problems (how do we accomplish X result or increase productivity for Y% ?) using using some scientific process of analysis and design. So from that you get your Structural Engineers, Electrical Engineers, Civil Engineers and in IT, you have your Software Engineers (including website builders), Systems Engineers (your guys who design and build computer systems) and your Network Engineers (your guys who design and build networks). What these all have in common is the element of analysis and design. The technology or tools they use doesn't matter - they're solving a problem using scientific techniques of analysis and design.

    The technician profession is usually more concerned about maintaining existing infrastructure and systems. They don't focus much on the analysis and design aspect apart from analysing the cause of a fault (something is broken) and familiarizing themselves with the design of the system so as to be able to resolve it. Their focus is not on formulating a new system or process to solve some problem.

    The Information technologist term is one that is generally used to describe someone who works with information technology. That term does not really speak to what is done with technology or what the focus is. I personally have used that term to describe my profession when filling out forms etc. because it's convenient.

    Definitely some companies have names that mislead you into thinking they're offering certain services, but that's why you can't just go by a name, you've got to really find out what they're about.

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    Default Re:engineer, techie or something else

    just to point out bck.....the IEE was the first institution and from which came the inst of physics and then the rest.
    the industrial revolution was based on engineers who did the ground work themselves.
    when you look at the early history, you werent really a scientist without the practicality. its where the application of science is from.

    as i understand it, a software engineer is an engineer (by training) who programs chips (eg. micro's, fpga's etc) with specific runtime routines. they are also to be found in the field of digital signal processing.
    applications programmers or just programmers write software for use by regular users in accolmplishing tasks on the standard pc etc. found in banks as well.
    there is a difference.
    there is no such thing as a web engineer. web designer yes but certainly not an engineer.

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    Default Re:engineer, techie or something else

    I sortof disagree with you deakie. There is such a thing as a Software Engineer, and they're not limited to programming chips. The discipline of Software Engineering is about solving problems by building software. It encompasses the entire Software Development Life Cycle - Requirements gathering/analysis/specification, architectural design, design specification, development, testing and verification, implementation, maintenance, revision, rebuild.

    So a Web Engineer is simply a software engineer who uses web technologies as his toolbase and platform.

    We can always get into semantics, but the fact is that over time, the term engineer has taken on a broader meaning. Hence the myriad of distinctions - mechanical, electrical, software, civil etc.

    One of the definitions given for "engineering" by http://www.dictionary.com is
    "The application of scientific and mathematical principles to practical ends such as the design, manufacture, and operation of efficient and economical structures, machines, processes, and systems. "

    Based on that definition having a Web Engineer could be legitimate.

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    Default Re:engineer, techie or something else

    this where the tracks diverge after time passes i think.
    the word engineer is what we should examine in its historical context.
    it being greek, i hope xeno can show it in all its finest.

    but back to software engineer. to earn such a title in the Uk would require you to sit a course where it specifically states software engineering as the module content. this content is to be had on engineering courses. not software courses.
    to be a apllications programmer wether for simple apps or complex ones, like found in banking, one studies computing science and not software engineering.
    to establish the construct for which application programmers work by, you have to be a system analyst and not a system engineer.
    see the difference?

    the web and net were constructed by information specialists, namely physicists and military scientists. physicists continue topush the limits of the web in terms of speed, capacity and capability.
    engineers build the machines that allow this kind of infrastructure.
    web designers design and build pages for us to view. at no point do they engineer anything.

    the definition that something is engineered should remain just that. that a circumstance is engineered doesnt make the designer, by default, an engineer. it is a descriptive word for a circumstance.

    if then we have designers who engineer new designs acceptable as engineers, then lets call the interior decorator an engineer. how shall we put it.....interior engineer. sounds good doesnt it. trouble is that person relly isnt an engineer now but give it time and he/she will be if this trend continues to grow.

    i guess our language is changing shape and as such, its meaning.

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    Default Re:engineer, techie or something else

    i guess our language is changing shape and as such, its meaning.
    True dat... the word engineer used to mean "one who operated an engine". These days that definition has broadened.

    So I guess in that sense we're both right ;D

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    Default Re:engineer, techie or something else

    anybody call dem self x engineer roun me is gwey haffi explain its meaning to me.

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