Isn't the term "software engineer" more than a bit of a stretch?
363716
For an engineer you have committed an uncommon error -- creating a general rule based purely on a limited (and likely flawed)sample. \n\nIn your own words: "I have never met a computer programmer... who had any real engineering skills(or an real engineering degree)."\n\nIs not THE foundational principle of Engineering that only calculable, repeatable, verifable infomation should be the basis for decisions?\n\nI assure you there ARE plenty of people who "write code" that have REAL enginnering degrees, those degrees may be in the traditional engineering disciplines of ME, EE, CE, ChemE as well as Industrial Engineering, Systems Engineering, Software Engineering, and other fields from schools as "hard core" as Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Purdue, Univeristy of Illinions, Cal Tech or others. Typically people with such skills are much more likely to be found in highly techincal fields, were their skills are more valuable. You certainly would want not the same person hacking together a website that you would trust to write the code that guides the Space Shuttle, manages doses of gamma radiation, or powers the internal workings of life-safety communication equipment.\n\nComputer Science is a field of study that has existed at the University level for over fifty years. While the logic contructs that are its underpinnings are shared by both fundamental mathematics and linguistics, its reliance on technolgy set it distinctly apart from those related fields -- just as chemistry & physics share many foundational tenants one deals primarly with the constituents of matter while the other deals with its motion/energy.\n\nVirtually all complex software can be reduced to a small decision tree, just all virtually all engineering problems can be reduced to simple calculations, yet I wonder if engineers who oversee pot hole repairs need to rely on as robust a set of calculations as those who construct bridges that span San Francisco Bay?\n\nThere ARE standards to become a Licensed Professional Engineer in CE, ME, EE, ChemE, and there are standards  for those interested in Computer Engineering as well. I suspect that the number of CEs that are LPEs far far exceeds those who are Software Engineers...\n\nRight now I know of no "search engine" that can tell me instantly how many engineers are in the US and the world. Further there is no simple query that I know of that would separate out those that are restricted to "computer code writers". I suspect that if and when such search engines and query facilites are built it will be by those who have a thorough knowledge of both Computer Science and Engineering...
655881
Without trying to be too biased, I think a good way to put it is that Engineers are a very no-nonsense group.  They work logically, and can get frustrated if something isn't being done logically or efficiently.  They can sometimes be less approachable than others, but usually are very easy to work with and get along with.  When working with engineers, remember that they are excited by finding solutions to problems or improving things from their existing state.
541484
Surely.Now-a-days the percentage of Sofware Testers in a project has certainly increased as people these days mostly rely on quality so approximately i can say there 2 testers for 1 programmer in many world class companies.So U can choose it without any hesitation and also the Pay is comparatively good with different organizational levels according to ur performance .Now-a-days Software industry  recruit people based on there analytical skills and their mindset to handle critical issues...Sofware testing being field of Destructive attitude rather than constructive(I mean finding problems in solutions)it needs a lot of analytical skills.
102107
Yes 25 years software engineering experience.\n\nBut helping someone else to program a computer is a potentially large undertaking, not something that can really be resolved in Yahoo Answers.  If you could summarize to 1 or 2 specific questions, i may be able to help, but it sounds like you are after tutoring.
644412
Having worked as a janitor to pay for my degree in mechanical engineering, I still take offense to the applicaton of the title engineer to such menial jobs. \n\nThough I understood that sanitation engineers were garbage men, sorry, garbage persons, and janitors were maintenance engineers, not to be confused with engineers who specialize in maintenance.\n\nAs a janitor I preferred the term custodian, which better reflects a sense of responsibility for the building which is in your care.
357192
You're a little broad on this. are you talking about web designers, graphic designers, software designers, hardware designers? They all engineer a unique material that coexist with other elements to better suit the end users. :-)
479825
Not if you are a software company.
47712
No, it doesn't bother me, although it is convenient if they post a range.  Usually only government listings do that.  I think there is enough variety in the marketplace, not only in what is expected of a given position, but what the employer will "settle for" once he sees who applies for a position.  The more we have set expectations for a given job title, the more trouble is created when a job does not fit the assumptions.  I am a "legal secretary," and there is a large body of assumptions about what that is, what I should know, and what I should expect to be paid.  But a law firm might be huge, with lots of benefits and support staff to do a lot of the routine tasks for me, or it might be a one-lawyer office, where I am expected to do everything, even water the plants.  If there was a "standard" salary, or even range, for such work, they would end up having to use different definitions, or put roman numerals after the title: become more rigid and beaurocratic than they already are.  Let's leave room for a prospective employer and employee to work it out for themselves.
36942
Electrical and Electronic engineers use several terms, depending on the physical characteristics, though I am not sure what distinguishes the various forms.\n\nPost\nHeader\nTerminal\nJunction\n\njust to name a few.
1056322
Software Engineer\nProgrammer Analyst\nProgrammer\nNetwork Engineer\nIT Manager\nIS Manager\nSystems Analyst\nWeb Developer
413128
From a rhetorical point of view, yes. From a scientific one? Maybe.\n\nI would expect that you'd need to quantify "as much functionality." It seems too broad and untestable.
829348
I am a circuit design engineer at AT&T.  I have learned that the longer the title…the more useless the job.  (Notice the big guys are CEO, VP, etc…)
583491
Definitely they are ... It's obvious right? We happen to see most companies/organizations in the world choose to employ Indians as their software developers.
641092
I suppose some should, some shouldn't.  I certainly wouldn't blanket the entire profession with the term, though.
513583
Hmmmm ... not sure what  you are asking ... does it have to do with programming language? Might be better if you tried again in one of the more techie categories.
52836
Semantics may be more important to them than syntax.\n\n(in other words, they are happy if their message is conveyed quickly and don't care as much about the technical form)
721312
I dunno ... it seems to me there are more male software dev guys in my company than girls. Interestingly we have three ladies that work with hardware. Go figure.