In certain parts of the world, including much of Europe, the question is less ambiguous than it seems. There are countries where this, for instance, has a very clear answer:<p>&gt; Is someone who makes electronic circuits, but is mostly self-taught, an engineer?<p>If he&#x27;s accredited by that country&#x27;s authority on the matter (e.g. the Engineering Council in the UK), then yes. If not, no.<p>Around here, you&#x27;re only allowed to call yourself an engineer if you have a degree from a technical university.<p>Sure, the company can give you any title they want (I mean, if they&#x27;re allowed to give obnoxious titles like Senior JavaScript Ninja or whatever, surely they can call someone an engineer, too), but from a legal standpoint, that&#x27;s null, with all the consequences that follow (e.g. legal documents that require an engineer&#x27;s signature have to be signed by someone that the state agrees is an engineer, regardless of what the company thinks).<p>Edit: FWIW, while I&#x27;m legally allowed to claim that glorious title (my diploma says &quot;Instrumentation Engineering&quot;), I tend to avoid it, too. My job has always been to program computers, and if I&#x27;ll be able to do that until I retire, I will. Consequently, I see no reason to call myself anything other than a programmer. My employers disagree for paperwork reasons, so the paperwork they do says otherwise, but &quot;programmer&quot; is what I want everyone to call me. There is very little of true value to be found in a name; people who chase the title of engineer, rather than the engineering education, are missing the point.