In my time I have found that there are many 'grease monkeys' in our field but I feel about a third are fine engineers. I am a UK 'engineer' and I quite like the title. I have engineering qualifications from college but no degree but have the 'engineering' mindset. i.e a curious tinkerer. There's many in our field who are basically 'fitters'and it is a job to them.
An open and curious mind is the best engineer or tech or whatever the translation..!