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Back to Basics - TMIET & MIET

John Frankham
I came to the IET web site today hoping for some explanation of what these acronyms mean, and which one is appropriate for whom. Also, some detail on why one would want to be one or the other would be good.

I could find none of these answers. I know these are basic questions, but that is the point. I failed to even find an expansion of the acronyms let alone any other explanations. Just information on how to apply and discussions on whether to do so.



Perhaps I am a bit slow. Please let me know if I missed something obvious!
  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member

    John Frankham:

    I have often been told "we will send an engineer out"; when the man who is attending is a tecnician or even a mechanic. So without a doubt, the term "engineer" in UK english is devalued, and I think we are hiding our heads in the sand to think we could ever change that in our lifetimes.J




    John, apologies for the late reply. Well qualified engineers do take up positions as technicians or mechanics because that's their first opportunity on the career ladder. I've seen a web profile of an MEng graduate working as a technician; and there are some CEngs who have worked as technicians - as revealed in previous members IEE surveys.



    My reason for why the term "engineer" isn't a protected title is due to engineers choosing to become employees rather than employers or entrepreneurs.



    A CEng or IEng will expect to work for an employer for 35 hrs a week and allowed to concentrate on a specialised role rather than on the entire project - design, development, testing, transportation, installation, commissioning, after care service, monitoring and analysing of data, and problem solving. In addition, they will expect to enjoy a company pension scheme, a company car, travel expense cover, perhaps free or discounted lunches and of course 5 or more weeks annual holiday on top of the public holiday. 



    Under the circumstances, an employer has a right to appoint an engineer (whatever their qualification) to be involved in other aspects of the project, so that they have a full team of engineers covering all aspects of the project.



    We haven't even touched upon the impact of "information technology" and how much time in the day is eaten up in: checking and replying to emails; researching huge technical documents online; producing documents on computer; understanding a variety of operating systems - computers, products, monitoring devices etc, etc. The endless meetings engineers have to attend to in order to understand what's going on in their own team as well as the rest of the company and of course report their own work to the team.  What about emergency cover when things inevitably go wrong. All this in the middle of getting one's idea to problem solving.



    Unfortunately, the IET, EC and their registered members do not think of the above issues as relevant, but of their own self importance in society. That is why I don't think the IET and EC will ever succeed in getting the title of "engineer" protected exclusively for their registered members.



    The bottom line is the employer is king when it comes to appointing engineers, and not the IET and EC.

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