My official title is “Premier Field Engineer” which means that I travel a lot working with our customers who hold Premier contracts. Because of the world-wide nature of our business, we sometimes have to travel to different places. This often means that we have to deal with different cultures. Turns out we now have to be careful what our title is, too:
On Tuesday, October 4th, 2005 the Quebec Court of Appeal denied Microsoft’s motion seeking leave to appeal the decision of the Superior Court which held that only engineers, member of the Ordre d’ingenieurs, can use the designation “Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer” in the Province of Quebec.
Microsoft respects the Court’s decision and has met with the Ordre d’ingenieur’s to agree to a phase out plan. Non members of the Ordre d’ingenieurs of Quebec may not use the title “Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer” in Quebec without risking legal proceedings being commenced against them by the Ordre d’ingenieurs. In the Province of Quebec,the acronym, “MCSE” is the designated title by Microsoft and this designation cannot be elaborated even by MCSE’s of other Canadian provinces, when working in the Province of Quebec.
While that ruling is specific to MCSE, it looks like it applies to anyone who is an engineer who isn’t a member of that society. So it looks like I am a Premier Field E from here on out (at least in Quebec)
I can’t wait to hear Bellware on this one!
This happened several years ago in Ontario as well. I got a letter from Microsoft around the Windows 2000 transition period saying I was not allowed to refer to myself as a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer any more.
The issue is that in Ontario (and presumably in Quebec as well), you actually have to have an Engineering Degree in order to call yourself an Engineer. And, obviously, a one week MCSE boot camp does not net you an Engineering Degree from an accredited University (I don’t know about nowadays, but for the NT4 MCSE, one week boot camps were common).