In Support of Engineers
by Paul McGoldrick
The first recorded use of the title engineer in the English language is in a Life of Saint Katherine dating from 1420. The spelling, of course, was not an important thing at the time and it was given as Yngynore. Amazingly enough the spell checker in Microsoft Word actually suggests "engineer" as a replacement, so it must be more phonetic than it looks to me. By 1611 the word was enginer and finally appeared as engineer in 1635. So, for 366 years people have known the word but have little or no understanding of what it is we do.
It certainly doesn't help that engine drivers in the U.S. should have been awarded our professional title but elsewhere, where an engine driver is usually just an engine driver, the profession is much more honored. I am proud to be able to call myself a Chartered Engineer (CEng) from the UK and Chartered European Engineer (CEEng.) Many professional engineers lead companies in the European environment -- unlike North America -- and as often enough they prefer to title themselves Ing. instead of Mr., or even Dr. -- although they may well have a doctorate.
I even object to the Professional Engineer (P.E., often) title that floats around in various States. The qualifications required are often arbitrary and don't, for me, align themselves with the origins of the word. The root word, engine, derives from the Old French engin and the Latin ingenium, meaning skills, which is also the root for "ingenious." And that's how I like to think of an engineer: An ingenious person. Not a body that follows the steady, known path; not the plodder, but someone who applies the skills acquired through education in a novel way.
We all know some good engineers, and we all know some who are marginal even on their best days; but there is a small core who are incredible in their abilities to innovate. In the analog engineering arena I have been privileged to meet design engineers who are brilliant at deriving new products from old ideas that everybody else failed to finish; I have also met design engineers who always make a first-pass product. These designers are well satisfied with their working conditions and remuneration; they are well looked after. And I'm sure that in other areas of electronics there are similar people. They deserve the honor of being understood to be engineers.
So there are the poor, the average, the good and the brilliant. There
are also those who might be seen as being traitorous to engineering causes:
The engineer that gives up his profession for another activity, like marketing?
We have to wonder what that first Yngynore did in 1420 to deserve the author's
claim that he was a trytor.