Cammy :
Hey, from South Africa here.
I'm a professionally registered Engineering Technologist (Civil), and over here we generally start our careers with clearly defined roles and responsibilities. As people gain experience, however, those boundaries tend to blur. Before long, technologists are doing significant design work, managing projects, making engineering decisions, and in some cases even supervising engineers.
In my experience, once you've spent 10+ years in the industry and have built a solid track record, the distinction becomes far less about your original qualification and far more about your competence, experience, and professional reputation. I've worked alongside engineers for years and, in many cases, performed exactly the same functions.
At that stage, the people most concerned with maintaining rigid hierarchies are often those who rely on titles rather than accomplishments to establish their standing.
2026-06-24 22:29:37