DuckJordan
Touring IATSE Member
This is what my local sound guru told me. I prefer to go by tech, I'll accept techie from people of power (principle) that have no better way of describing me.
Sound Engineer has appeal to me though, I have no degree but I'm good at wiring everything together in the right order and I will have a degree so I will have that title someday
No disrespect to you, but there is much more to a sound engineer than just wiring. But I have to agree that Techie is an insult, no mater who says it. Its just like calling a nucular scientist a nukie its just plain dumb, the knowledge it takes to put a set together make it light weight, light that so there is no strange angles or shadows, know what it takes to make a sound system work and how to bring an audience collectively into a world they would never experience outside of the theater is easily as specialized of a skill as you can get.