
You are Not a Software Engineer - DanielRibeiro
http://chrisaitchison.com/2011/05/03/you-are-not-a-software-engineer
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nuclear_eclipse
Considering that I have a degree specifically in Software Engineering, I think
I'm quite justified in calling myself a Software Engineer. If you feel
universities aren't justified in graduating students as Software Engineers,
then that's something that you should take up with the Dept of Education and
various other groups regarding accreditation guidelines.

My point being that just because building software is not as well defined up
front as more classical engineering trades, doesn't mean there aren't aspects
of it that are very similar to engineering principals, especially considering
how young the field is. I bet that when we first started building bridges and
skyscrapers, nobody had a good idea of just how long it would take.

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acangiano
Considering that even stay at home parents are considered "Engineers" (i.e.,
Domestic Engineers), I say you're perfectly justified in using that title.

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pavel_lishin
Considered by whom, exactly? House-moms and -dads angry that their efforts are
underappreciated? Great, I'll make sure that our Office Supply Engineer (we
call her a receptionist) sends 'em a card.

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dy
This article is linkbait and stretches a metaphor way beyond its breaking
point. Also, I think the author confuses various parts of the software field
(process/methodology vs engineering/development vs craft/artistry).

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tjr
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DO-178B>

~~~
garyrichardson
There are far more coders working for companies where no one dies if they code
has defects.

The article argues that most programmers are not engineers. At least I draw
that conclusion.

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pavel_lishin
It seems to argue that everyone is not an engineer.

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sn
This is a bogus comparison. The difference between software engineering and
other types of engineering is that for software, the _detailed_ design is the
implementation. For other engineering, several months or more of design and
simulation occur these days before a single device/bridge/airplane is built.
If you asked the engineers at the beginning exactly how many transistors this
chip was going to use, or how many kgs of concrete/metal/etc., they wouldn't
know the answer yet either.

I am going through and profiling code, analyzing memory requirements etc.
before selecting new hardware. And then we prototype before finalizing the
design. If that isn't engineering I don't know what is.

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mrcharles
I have definitely come around to the idea that most programming is art, not
science. Not to say there is no such thing as computer science as applies to
programming, because there is. Algorithmic research, language research, etc,
all of these can fall under the domain of 'engineering', even given the
description of this blog post.

But if you are _using_ those things, then you do so as a tool, using tools is
not necessarily the domain of engineering, but it is often in the domain of
art.

I would very much like if my job title read "Code Artist."

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heat_miser
Gardens have elements that are impossible to control so gardeners have to deal
with randomness. With code, there is no randomness, the outcome of a piece of
software will be exactly what people have written, down to the microcode, it
is completely predictable.

In many ways software engineers are more engineers than civil, because we
completely control our environment.

Maybe your organization is out of control, but your code is not.

~~~
pavel_lishin
> With code, there is no randomness,

... unless your software deals with input from humans.

> the outcome of a piece of software will be exactly what people have written,
> down to the microcode, it is completely predictable.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_problem>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busy_Beaver>

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echobase
What alarms me is the kinds of people who have co-opted the term 'engineer' to
describe themselves. For example, the guy in my company who's job is to verify
that anchor tags inside web pages point to the correct URLs, confirm that a
site's layout adheres to a .psd, and to make sure that jQuery-powered divs
appear and hide as they should. His title?... 'Senior QA Engineer'.

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pavel_lishin
I have a question. It's a short question - just two words, and no question
marks.

Space shuttle.

