we should call them "prompt witch doctors" or maybe "prompt alchemists".
Some of it is engineering-like, but I've also picked up a sixth sense when modifying prompts about what parts are affecting the behavior I want to modify for certain models, and that feels very witch doctory!
The more engineering-like part is essentially trying to RE a black box model's post-training, but that goes over some people's heads so I'm happy to help keep the "it's just voodoo and guessing" narrative going instead :)
Oh absolutely not! Only in engineering you are allowed to get called an engineer for no apparent reason, do that in other white collar and you are behind the bars because of fraudulent claims.
Of course, the service they really provide is for businesses to feel they "do AI", and whether or not they do real engineering is as relevant as if your favorite pornstars' boobs are real or not.
This matters more than you might think.
Horrifying prospect, tbh
Actual engineers have professional standards bodies and legal liability when they shirk and the bridge falls down or the plane crashes or your wiring starts on fire.
Software "engineers" are none of those things but can at least emulate the approaches and strive for reproducibility and testability. Skilled craftsman; not engineers.
Prompt "engineers" is yet another few steps down the ladder, working out mostly by feel what magic words best tickle each model, and generally with no understanding of what's actually going on under the hood. Closer to a chef coming up with new meals for a restaurant than anything resembling engineering.
The battle on the use of language around engineer has long been lost but applying it to the subjective creative exercise of writing prompts is just more job title inflation. Something doesn't need to be engineering to be a legitimate job.
The battle on the use of language around engineer has long been lost
subjective creative exercise of writing prompts
If physical engineers understood everything then standards would not have changed in many decades. Safety factors would be mostly unnecessary. Clearly not the case.