

Ask HN: What are your thoughts on licensed Software Engineers? - mlwarren

I came across this article from 2012 that talks about some states in the US now offering a licensure examination for Software Engineering. The idea is to bring standards to the software field similar to the ones that exist for other branches of engineering.<p>The comments section is particularly negative to this idea. It seems like most of the people commenting are established software developers that are reluctant to this change.<p>Reading the article, I begin to agree that licensure may be a good idea. The term &quot;Software Engineering&quot; has such a wide span that some delineation could be a good thing. As software continues to eat the world what will delineate the differences between a CRUD web application developer and someone qualified to write code for pacemakers, satellites, missiles, etc?<p>How is this sort of thing handled in countries other than the US?<p>Is licensure a good or bad idea? I&#x27;d like to hear the communities&#x27; thoughts.<p>Link: http:&#x2F;&#x2F;theinstitute.ieee.org&#x2F;career-and-education&#x2F;career-guidance&#x2F;licensing-software-engineers-is-in-the-works
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ctb_mg
I think our environment is changing too quickly for a licensing/certification
program to keep up. Unless you broaden the scope of such a license so that it
applies regardless of the technology used.

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FurrBall
How many Ph.D's have you met who can't write software? If years of study is
not a good measuring stick, I don't see how a "software engineer"
certification will help.

I see it as red tape. For serious work you have serious interviews. It doesn't
involve looking at their certs and degrees.

It comes down money. There will be a fee paid for the exam. Will other
organizations be able to offer certification or will IEEE have a monopoly?

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penrod
I am an established developer, and licensing would not hurt me at all: I work
for a big company, I have a CS degree, and years of experience. I object to
licensing because it would destroy the most appealing aspects of our industry.
Right now, if you've got a great idea you can drop out of college and
bootstrap a company that changes people's lives and makes you a billionaire.
That is _fucking awesome_. Licensing would kill that _completely_.

