Lately, we have had many queries within our profession regarding the differentiation between an Engineering Technician,
Incorporated Engineer and Professional Engineer. We have come to the conclusion that the documentation of the ECN as posted on our website has not been studied by applicants and a short comparison in this regard will give an overview of what the communalities and the differences of these three categories are and will also prompt applicants to visit the ECN website and explore the three categories as allowed for registration in the Engineering Profession Act, 1986 (as amended in 1991).
Professionalism always means that a person has undergone formal education and specific practical training for a specialised work for which:

Impartial and recognised standards have been set; and where

The actual educational programme and the practical training have been subject to rigid standards control.
Defining the three categories of registration as outlined in our Act we have to make these distinct differing statements as given below:
1.
“Professional Engineers are concerned primarily with the progress of technology through innovation, creativity and change. Their work involves the application of a significant range of fundamental principles enabling them to develop and apply new technologies, promote advanced designs and design methods, introduce new more efficient production techniques, marketing and construction concepts and pioneer new engineering services and management methods. They may be involved with the management of high risk and resource intensive projects. Professional judgement is a key feature of their role, allied to the assumption of responsibility for the direction of important tasks, including the profitable management of industrial and commercial enterprises.”
2.
“Incorporated Engineers form the mainstream of professional engineering practitioners and act as exponents of today’s technology. They perform complex technical duties of an established or a novel character in a wide variety of contexts. They have a substantial degree of personal responsibility and authority, often providing leadership and control in a managerial role. The posts occupied by Incorporated Engineers demand the combination of a practical approach and a detailed understanding of the particular technology. They must understand the fundamentals and practical application of current technology and be able to maintain existing technology efficiently. They need communication skills and awareness of the business and professional environment beyond their specific area of responsibility.”
3.
“Engineering Technicians are competent by virtue of their education, professional development and practical experience to apply knowledge and proven techniques and procedures to the solution of practical problems of varying complexity in a wide variety of contexts, as required by industry and commerce. Their work will include a combination of design, commissioning, project or construction management, measurement and testing, quality assurance, production, maintenance, management and any other activities, which require their level of competence, all under the supervision of a competent and qualified engineer. Similarly, they are frequently involved in the supervision and guidance of others, carrying a measure of supervisory and technical responsibility.”
The career path often requires the adaptation of a person to advance from an Artisan to an Engineering Technician or later to an Incorporated Engineer; in the process augmenting manual skills with techniques and augmenting techniques with greater understanding of principles, science and mathematics. However, this requires the educational background and further scientific studies to be able to competently deal with these elevated engineering challenges. A Professional Engineer devotes his early academic training in virtually first becoming a
This is necessary because
in the pursuit of the progress of technology through innovation, creativity and change in engineering. Similarly, it is for that reason that the change from
Incorporated Engineer to a Professional Engineer calls for an entire change of paradigm in approach to develop and apply new technologies, promote advanced designs and design methods, introduce new and more efficient production techniques, marketing and construction concepts and pioneer new engineering services and management methods. This is often misunderstood and it will not be easy to upgrade the educational background from one level to the next.

In the engineering fraternity this practice has been laid down in the Engineering Profession Act, 1986
(as amended in 1991) certain job categories can be filled by both Incorporated Engineers and Professional Engineers, but according to and education and experience of the person an Incorporated Engineer may only be placed in job categories where he/she has been trained for and cannot be placed in job categories that cover more than that specific educational field. To become eligible for a wider job category such Incorporated Engineer must either be exposed to further educational training or be exposed to many years of adequate experience and self training to become conversant in the wider engineering background that Professional Engineers had been exposed to in their study.