CALGARY — When is an engineer not an engineer? 

That question lies at the heart of a simmering battle between software companies and engineering regulators—one that has taken on new urgency since the Alberta government sided in November with tech companies in a decision that lets them apply the term “software engineer” to employees. 

Now, the dispute shows signs of spreading to other provinces. In April, Etai Mizrahi, the co-founder of Toronto-based data management company Secoda, said in a LinkedIn post that his firm had received a cease-and-desist letter from the province’s engineering regulator over its use of the title, giving the company a 15-day window to delete all references to it from its website.

With tensions over the issue rising, the head of the association that governs Canada’s engineering profession is warning his members won’t back down.

Engineers Canada is the national umbrella group for the provincial and territorial engineering regulators that license and govern the profession in the country. Gerard McDonald, the group’s outgoing CEO, told The Logic it is concerned about a potential “domino effect” from the Alberta government’s decision to exempt software engineers from official accreditation requirements, fearing it could lead to similar fights in other provinces. 

Outside of Alberta, provincial regulators remain “in a state of constant surveillance” to ensure the title of engineer isn’t used in ways they deem improper, he said. 

A credit to software engineers: The ongoing legal dispute is ultimately a disagreement over job accreditation and licensing. It started when the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA) began demanding companies stop using the term “software engineer,” asserting that anyone who uses the title must first get an official engineering permit through APEGA. 

The association sought a court injunction preventing two companies—Edmonton’s Jobber, a firm with a platform for invoice management and other services; and iStock, a Calgary-based stock images site—from using the title. 

As The Logic first reported in October 2022, Jobber CEO Sam Pillar threatened to move the company’s headquarters out of the province over the disagreement, saying it was “corrosive to a free business environment.” The Council of Canadian Innovators, a tech lobby group, and 30 executives echoed those concerns in a letter to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith around the same time, arguing the dispute restricted their ability to hire key talent. “Software engineer,” the tech sector has argued, is a widely used colloquial term that simply doesn’t require an APEGA permit. 

By late last year, the Alberta government had come to share that view, and amended provincial legislation to exempt the title from APEGA’s accreditation regime. Days later, an Alberta Court of King’s Bench judge ruled in favour of Jobber and iStock. 

APEGA is appealing, and McDonald told The Logic his organization has applied for intervenor status, saying he has broader worries that the Alberta decision could create a precedent in other provinces. 

“There is always a fear that you get a domino effect, and that is certainly something we wouldn’t want to wait to see.” 

Ontario bound: Alberta’s legislative amendment seemed to put the conflict to rest—at least temporarily. 

That was, until Secoda’s Mizrahi posted that his company was being “harassed and threatened” by Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO), which had sent a cease-and-desist letter saying Secoda was “not permitted to use ‘engineer’ as part of a job title” and that the word is “restricted to persons who hold a licence.” 

Mizrahi called on Ontario Premier Doug Ford to follow Smith’s lead and make legislative changes to ensure a “level playing field” for Ontario companies. 

“If we want Ontario to attract great tech talent, we must allow companies and their employees the freedom to use titles that have long been universally accepted in the tech industry,” he said. 

Mizrahi and Secoda did not respond to a request for comment. PEO would not specify how many cease-and-desist letters it has sent to companies over use of “software engineer,” but said it was enforcing use of the term for reasons including public health, safety and the environment.

“Some software developers refer to themselves as ‘software engineers’ and to their work as ‘software engineering,’ even though they have never studied engineering and are not licensed by PEO,” Katarina Praljak, a spokesperson for the organization said in a statement. “PEO believes this is a problem because it misleads the public into thinking they are licensed and accountable to the regulator for the success and safety of their work.” 

What’s next? If the issue has made its way into Ontario, the province’s attorney general at the moment does not plan to back the tech sector in the way Alberta did. 

“The PEO has a mandate to regulate engineers in the public interest and is responsible for their admissions, education, licensing, and discipline,” Attorney General Doug Downey’s office said in a statement to The Logic. “The ministry is not contemplating amendments to the Act at this time.” 

McDonald, meanwhile, disputes the sector’s claims that denying use of the word “engineer” could hamper hiring efforts, calling the position “a bit specious.” Either way, the associations he represents plan to continue surveilling job titles for use of the word as it always has. 

“We’ll enforce our position, he said. “We’re not going out and warning people not to do this. When we find cases of infractions we will exert our rights, but right now we’re not planning any type of scorched-earth policy.”