Post Nominals

BA (hons)

Never - ever - use it. It makes you look like a tit.

I had an email from an estate agent once which was signed

Matthew Bloom, BSc (hons)

I just thought, 'what a knob'.
 
malfunkshun said:
dont you first have to apply to the IET to be able to use CEng?
Click to expand...

To become a CEng, IEng or EngTech, people must demonstrate appropriate competence and commitment through:

* academic qualifications
* experience and training
* a professional review, which may involve a dissertation, an interview or an exam
* membership of a licensed member organisation.

http://www.questonline.co.uk/content/view/full/12909
 
I think one of my lecturers takes the p a bit - from his website:
Professor Ian Ralston MA PhD FRSE FSA FSA (Scot) MIFA

Hopefully in about 2 years i'll have an MA but i wouldn't actually use it in my name, just like Ian doesn't in a non-professional context he signs his emails Ian.
 
platypus i know you are proud of your achievements and getting a doctorate is huge benefit, but in my work i work as a structural engineers who have a-lvls and thats it yet they are the best engineers ive worked with, trying to use letters after your name to prove your better than someone else is wrong, education does not mean your better than someone else and i'8e worked with a lot of people who wouldn't do work below them, i go by with the ' don't as anyone to do something you wouldn't be happy to do yourself. '

KaHn
 
Tefal said:
yeah, i know it doesn't mean medical doctor, but if you had phd, why don't you use doctor, instead of phd?
Click to expand...

If the stewardess asks "is there a doctor on the plane" would you jump forward with your PHD? Yes, with a PHD you are a doctor but in common parlance it is almost always immediately assumed to refer to a medical doctor.

G|mp = Big Moaning Fairy? Or Bad Mother ******? :p
 
yeah but this seams to be for on paper, as he said he would be putting phd after his name wich just sounds as bad as all the other letters, yet Dr. sounds good :p
 
I find myself disagreeing with you on everything today Tefal.

If you use doctor and you're not medical then you look pompous. Putting PhD after your name is fine - it takes a lot of effort to do one and heck by that time you'll have earned it. The very fact that you have an option of putting Doctor or putting PhD after your name (or neither) means that certain people gravitate to the first choice and others to the second. Those people picking the first choice tend to be idiots.
 
semi-pro waster said:
If the stewardess asks "is there a doctor on the plane" would you jump forward with your PHD? Yes, with a PHD you are a doctor but in common parlance it is almost always immediately assumed to refer to a medical doctor.

G|mp = Big Moaning Fairy? Or Bad Mother ******? :p
Click to expand...

depends who you're asking :D
 
fini said:
If you use doctor and you're not medical then you look pompous.
Click to expand...

Does that make nearly every University lecturer pompus, as all that I have come across use Dr? I know you'll probably say that it's because they work for a University so is more accepted, but most of them still use it outside too. I certainly don't think it's pompus to use it.

I have no real opinion on using them, although I think in everyday life such as business cards etc. they look a bit stupid, unless they specifically relate to the fild that they deal in. For example if I was dealing with an accountant I don't think it would look foolish to have ACA etc after their names.

I think it one of those things that is right in some situations, and wrong in others.
 
Brum Man said:
Does that make nearly every University lecturer pompus, as all that I have come across use Dr? I know you'll probably say that it's because they work for a University so is more accepted, but most of them still use it outside too.
Click to expand...

Lecturers are different though as they're never backwards in coming forwards in that they're a lecturer. In University it's obvious that that it's a PhD in their field, whereas outside of Uni I find most lecturers go on and on about their field and then, again, it's obvious. It's also practically expected of lecturer's to refer to themselves as Dr if they have a PhD so they don't have so much of a choice as say a bank manager might.
 
fini said:
If you use doctor and you're not medical then you look pompous. Putting PhD after your name is fine...
Click to expand...
You do realise that is the wrong way round, don't you? Doctor means teacher in Latin.

It became an erroneous synonym for "physician" many moons ago. Hence in the US, they're called MD's not Dr's. Germany also only confer the title "Doktor" on completion of a PhD in addition to the medical degree. The GMC here, and elsewhere in the commonwealth began conferring the title "Doctor", presumably from a point of ego.
 
Medical practitioners are, for all intents and purposes, "honorary" doctors, unless they also happen to hold a PhD. People completing a PhD (or doctorate) are the real doctors, and have every right to refer to themselves as such. Just like Professors call themselves Professor Smith.

Once you hold such a qualification, you're not a "Mr" or "Ms" any more, so why not use it as it's meant to be used? There's a difference between a PhD referring to themselves as Dr Smith, and some n00b down at the call centre signing letters as John Eejit BA (Hons), no?

Oh and BTW, you either use Dr Smith, OR John Smith, PhD - never both at the same time ;)
 
jdickerson said:
You do realise that is the wrong way round, don't you? Doctor means teacher in Latin.
Click to expand...

The etymology's really not important though - well not as important as what 99% of the population will immediately assume as soon as someone says they are a doctor.
 
At work and on business cards, most of us have our qualification letters - pretty sure it's company policy. It basically helps strangers (clients and colleagues in other offices) know who you are and what level of qualification you have (in addition to your post of course).

It was a pround moment when I first saw my card with "DB_SamX" MEng. I hope to get 1 or 2 more in my career.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom