I'm sorry in advance if I offend anybody with my comments.
Is somebody who drives a car an "automotive engineer"?
Sadly most people people who call themselves "audio engineers" don't have the faintest idea of how this stuff actually works, can't read simple graphs, don't understand any of the simple math etc.
Of there are "sanitation engineers" and so forth.
And even the term "technician" is not correct. I consider a "technician" somebody who understands, at least to a certain level, what is technically going on. And that is more than simple "operation".
I prefer the term "soundman", whether or not it is a man or woman. To me "sound woman" just sounds weird. This is not a sexist statement at all.
"Sound person" also sounds weird.
Some of the best sound people I have worked with have been women. And some of the worst as well. To me, gender has nothing to do with it.
I think some people use the term "engineer", because it makes them feel important and they are doing something that is above the average persons capabilities.
But they are not doing any "Engineering" of any kind-at least in my mind.
A train Engineer is one of the odd exceptions-because it has been around for so long.
When my wife (I didn't know her then) got her EE degree, her dad gave her a train engineer hat
, because to him that signified an "Engineer".
Engineering students will often take the EIT (Engineer In Training) exam after they graduate.
As David said, later they will take the PE (Professional Engineer) exam.
If they pass, THEN they become an Engineer.
I would argue that a huge majority (there are exceptions) of the guys who call themselves "audio Engineers" could not get 1 question on a Engineering test right.
Sorry if this offended anybody, but most (again not all) cannot pass a simple audio test.
Meyer used to have a "Prequalification exam" that you needed to pass before you could even take a SIM class.
I have a copy of it, but could not find it online (at least in a quick search).
I bet most "mixers" would not pass-even though it is basic audio question.
But hey-anybody is an expert-until somebody smarter comes along to correct them.
Flame suit on.