CAEB accredites Canadian university programs, including civil engineering programs, electrical engineering programs, and yes, software engineering programs. In addition, provincial engineering organizations such as PEO require that all professiomal engineers are employed as engineers in training (EIT) for a period of time, and passing an ethics exam.
TL;DR: yes, officially recognized software engineers are real engineers in Canada.
You can see the CEAB accredited programs and decide for yourself if they meet your personal criteria – they all seem to include a substantial variety of advanced mathematics.
I’m sensing that you may be an engineer in another discipline who feels jealous that the horde of unregulated software engineers are diluting your title. It’s a valid concern in my opinion, and one that is shared by organizations like PEO who have and will take action on people using the term incorrectly, although their resources and jurisdiction are obviously limited. The key differentiation is between a licensed, professional software engineer with a stamp, and a software developer who was given “engineer” in their title at work.
I am not familiar with the curriculum of every single accredited engineering program in Canada, and few people are. I am fairly confident that I do not know as little about them as you do, however.
The other key requirements I hope your licensing has are continuing education requirements and, most importantly, the notion of being a professional and having accountability to the public, not just your employer. Just taking one college class where you learn about Therac-25 isn’t enough; a professional software engineer also needs to have the power to refuse unethical demands by their employer (e.g. to build dark patterns or otherwise enshittify the software) and have that judgement be backed up by the state.
CAEB accredites Canadian university programs, including civil engineering programs, electrical engineering programs, and yes, software engineering programs. In addition, provincial engineering organizations such as PEO require that all professiomal engineers are employed as engineers in training (EIT) for a period of time, and passing an ethics exam.
TL;DR: yes, officially recognized software engineers are real engineers in Canada.
Alright but it feels like you didn’t really touch on my personal requirements and just appealed to authority.
You can see the CEAB accredited programs and decide for yourself if they meet your personal criteria – they all seem to include a substantial variety of advanced mathematics.
I’m sensing that you may be an engineer in another discipline who feels jealous that the horde of unregulated software engineers are diluting your title. It’s a valid concern in my opinion, and one that is shared by organizations like PEO who have and will take action on people using the term incorrectly, although their resources and jurisdiction are obviously limited. The key differentiation is between a licensed, professional software engineer with a stamp, and a software developer who was given “engineer” in their title at work.
You seemed more familiar with them so I wanted to hear your input but apparently you know as little about them as I do.
I am not familiar with the curriculum of every single accredited engineering program in Canada, and few people are. I am fairly confident that I do not know as little about them as you do, however.
Feels like the right thing to do, IMO. Why do your personal requirements matter anywhere regarding this? 😆
Progress comes from the voicing of opinions.
And your opinion is that software is not a valid engineering discipline?
The other key requirements I hope your licensing has are continuing education requirements and, most importantly, the notion of being a professional and having accountability to the public, not just your employer. Just taking one college class where you learn about Therac-25 isn’t enough; a professional software engineer also needs to have the power to refuse unethical demands by their employer (e.g. to build dark patterns or otherwise enshittify the software) and have that judgement be backed up by the state.