I am from a country in which the use of the word Engineer or Engineering is strictly regulated by legislation. This means that you must hold a degree in Engineering AND passed an exam to join the Engineers' professional association to use the title. I am a bit confused about the term Software Engineer as used in the industry, globally.I read the wikipedia page on Software Engineer and the linked section of the page about the term usage, which offer an in-depth discussion. However my question is somehow more concrete.Knowing that I don't hold a degree in engineering (yet, I like to think I produce funcional, well designed software!), when I see an opening for a software engineer from an international company, would it be appropriate for me to apply? Should I somehow emphasise that I don't hold a degree in engineering?
Can I apply for Software Engineer jobs without being an engineer?
skills;engineering
You are not going to waste anyone's time. Go for it. And you don't even need to emphasize that you don't hold a degree in engineering.  Your CV (Resume) will obviously state what degrees you hold, and by inference what you do not hold. Only avoid companies that specifically state that they are only looking for accredited etc etc.EDIT: The reason for this is that computer software development has been, still is, and will continue for a while to be an explosively growing, industry-led field, where 99% of what the job is all about is learned at the workplace, not at the University. The University is good for learning to specialize on a specific subject by means of a Master's or higher degree, and when a company is looking for a specialist they usually state this requirement. This comes from someone who holds a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and who nevertheless learned that what he is doing is in fact a science outside of the University. (Initially in highschool, when I learned what binary search is, and later at work, when I learned what OOP was. At the University they had not heard of OOP yet.)