What is ”Engineer”

I think there is no black and white of what Engineer or Engineering means.  Here’s what Wikipedia wrote:

Engineer
Engineers work to develop economic and safe solutions to practical problems, by applying mathematics, scientific knowledge and ingenuity while considering technical constraints. The term is derived from the Latin root “ingenium,” meaning “cleverness”. The industrial revolution and continuing technological developments of the last few centuries have changed the connotation of the term slightly, resulting in the perception of engineers as applied scientists. The work of engineers is the link between perceived needs of society and commercial applications.

Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art and profession of acquiring and applying technical, scientific, and mathematical knowledge to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and processes that safely realize a desired objective or invention.

The American Engineers’ Council for Professional Development (ECPD, the predecessor of ABET) has defined engineering as follows:

“[T]he creative application of scientific principles to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or works utilizing them singly or in combination; or to construct or operate the same with full cognizance of their design; or to forecast their behavior under specific operating conditions; all as respects an intended function, economics of operation and safety to life and property.”

Recently I read this on a career newletter:

Can anyone tell me what exactly a financial engineer has to do?

Here’s the entry from Wikipedia:

Financial Engineering
Financial engineering is a multidisciplinary field involving financial theory, the methods of financing, using tools of mathematics, computation and the practice of programming to achieve the desired end results.

The financial engineering methodologies usually apply social theories, engineering methodologies and quantitative methods to finance. It is normally used in the securities, banking, and financial management and consulting industries, or as quantitative analysts in corporate treasury and finance departments of general manufacturing and service firms.

Any relevance to the original meaning of engineer?  I don’t think so. The term “sales engineer” is something that I don’t subscribe as well.  If that’s the case everyone can call him/herself an engineer.

Student: “I’m a learn engineer”.

Cook: “I’m a cook/kitchen/food engineer”.

Teacher: “I’m an teaching/education engineer”.

Carpenter: ”I’m a wood engineer”.

Doctor: “I’m a cure engineer”.

Gardener: ”I’m a garderning engineer”.

Driver: “I operates an engine.  I’m an engineer too”.

Me:  “I am MY own engineer.  I engineer myself”. (this can be true actually)

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I call these abuse.  Or maybe I’m wrong.  Everyone is indeed engineer.

In one of the classes in Tsinghua University, the lecturer mentioned something meaningful.  “Engineer without a thought (思想) is NOT an engineer.  He is just an operator (of something)”.  I find this interesting because this is actually what leads back to the meaning of ingenium (the title of Ir.).  An engineering graduate might not be an engineer, a farmer who develops his own technology can be an engineer.  Interesting.