Need a degree from an accredited school in engineering + pass the engineering licensing requirements. In Ontario, where I live, that means passing an ethics exam + some years of work that is overseen by someone with a P.Eng. The challenge in software is usually the last part.

Would this mean an engineer in the US who moves to Canada would not be able to practice without getting work accreditation and a license?

The exact policy depends on the province but an American engineer that passed the FE exam can easily become an Engineer in Training (EIT) and an American engineer that has more than 4 years work experience (reporting to an engineer) can easily become a Professional Engineer (P.Eng) in Canada.

In other cases, they look at your academic and work history, and may ask you to take FE and/or PE exams and/or an ethics exam and may ask you to complete specific engineering courses. It's actually possible to obtain accreditation through work experience alone (10 years IIRC).

You can even take the FE and PE exams in Canada for this purpose (and for Canadian grads that want to work in the US). Note that if you get an engineering degree in Canada, you don't have to take the FE exam or equivalent to start as an engineer in training, because the engineering schools themselves are accredited with very similar curriculum.

Personal anecdote: I have a Canadian engineering degree but I personally had no problem using work experience abroad as part of my four years experience towards my P. Eng.

They cannot practice, as in they cannot stamp drawings, or in other words take responsibility for things that require an engineer to take responsibility for. What it means in practice is that either they work in a sector that does not require stamping drawings, or a P.Eng. has to review their work and stamp their drawings.

If you work in tech writing software or building hardware this has no impact on you at all. You can still do the exact same stuff, you just can't have 'Engineer' in your title. This stuff only really comes into play for say civil engineers signing off on the final design of a project or a chemical engineer doing the same for some plant.

Yes, that's correct. Although is fairly easy to get accredited if you are a member in order of the state association of engineers.

Well glad I live in California! I’m a college drop out and all self taught. Not a member of any associations. Happily doing lots of great engineering here in the states!

I don't know the details for Canada specifically, but I doubt not having a degree precludes you from registration - generally having one just expedites it.

I'd encourage you not to discount professional bodies as irrelevant, or incapable of becoming more relevant, our industry could benefit from it in many ways - perhaps most frequently on-topic on HN is the ethical and whistle-blowing aspect. Also plenty of professional development and networking, and that only improves as more people that get involved from different (or rather one's own specific) areas.

Not having a degree precludes registration... in fact, the degree must be from an engineering society accredited program, to ensure you get enough hours in front of a P.Eng prof or lecturer, among other things, I think.

One Canadian university's Comp Sci dept. started offering Software Engineering program one time and it ended up in a lawsuit the outcome of which is... complicated.

Canada is, I feel, very... lot of red tape.

The traditional term "engineer" isn't even a very good description of software dev anyway.

Software dev people should just make a new word up and abandon "Engineer".

The new word is "computer programmer".

But that’s not REAL engineering! You are only moving numbers around.

Oddly, this doesn’t apply for the railroad. [0]

[0] - https://www.canadianbusiness.com/lists-and-rankings/best-job...

It does apply to the railroad in general but there are a few job titles grandfathered in that don't require a P. Eng. such as locomotive engineer (the other common one is power engineer) because those job titles were used before the engineering regulations existed and the job descriptions don't match the modern definition of engineering in Canada.

For engineering disciplines in the railroad industry such as structural, mechanical and electrical, a P. Eng. is indeed required.

How did the first engineer get accredited then? :)

He likely founded the association that sold accreditations.

Usually it means you graduated with an accredited Engineering degree from university, and you are licensed by the regulatory body in your province to practice engineering. The laws differ from one province to another regarding what constitutes an Engineer.

I'm not 100% sure about the rest of Canada, but in Quebec: If you pay a yearly fee to be a member of the professional order of engineers, you can call yourself an engineer.

Sure, you have to have minimum a bachelor's from an accredited Canadian university, pass an ethics exam, and have supervised experience (or prove that you obtained the equivalent) to join in the first place, but if you don't pay the yearly fee you can only call yourself a "holder of an engineering degree".

I believe you need to get a Professional Engineer license in the province where you practice.

Professional licensing along the lines of architects amd doctors - i.e. board exams and long multiyear supervised internship by a senior licensed engineer. At least that's how it looked last time I checked.

A license, which sometimes requires a degree from an accredited engineering department.