How would we regulate software engineers?
tavisharmstrong.com
How would we regulate software engineers?
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Re: How would we regulate software engineers?
#2Regulation would have to start with simple coding standards. Updated yearly. Much like building codes. A project could pick what standards they wanted to adhere to, and then everyone on the project would have to adhere to those standards -- the whole project would be audited by a third-party after the fact for compliance.
There are plenty of good, short, concise coding standards to draw from. Especially useful in giving non-technical people the confidence that things were built consistently... if not correctly even. This is about as simple as it gets:
* WordPress Coding Standards – Make WordPress Core || https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/best-practices/codi...
I'm sure there are others that aren't terrible.
I do think having more standards would help, standards defined by the devs on the project. If they get to choose their benchmark, then it's just about consistency of approach. Not a bad thing, right? Currently it's the wild west, and the only thing a dev can do is say, "It's my word against theirs, their code is bad."
Re: How would we regulate software engineers?
#3You'd better spend your time, by regulating things that generate code and validating/regulating that output.
Re: How would we regulate software engineers?
#4Regulation would have to start with simple coding standards. Updated yearly. Much like building codes. A project could pick what standards they wanted to adhere to, and then everyone on the project would have to adhere to those standards -- the whole project would be audited by a third-party after the fact for compliance. There are plenty of good, short, concise coding standards to draw from. Especially useful in giv…
Yeah, this kind of mentality produces utter shit like TOGAF. The code is still crap written by mediocre devs, but now includes at least 100% more complexity and needless abstraction!
Re: How would we regulate software engineers?
#5Probably similar to how other professions are regulated. Educational requirements, internship requirements, licensing, yearly continuing education, etc.
Re: How would we regulate software engineers?
#6I have some engineering background and you only have engineers in stable predictable fields. You can predict quite accurately the failure load of a bridge truss or a transistor and its easily testable and the whole process can be simulated and verified top to bottom.
My guess is the wedge to bring in engineering would be network operations, classic operations (not devops which just means we're gonna pencil whip the ops responsibilities). Maybe large data center operations (thermal, electrical loads, UPS, etc) is amenable to engineering workflows.
Software is simply too unpredictable. Both in development and operation. Software is still in the "greeks and amber and rabbit fur experiments" stage of electrical engineering.
Re: How would we regulate software engineers?
#7Regulation is a wrong word. Regulation is something pushed to you from above, something that you did not ask for and that you'll try to evade using that programmer-brain of you.
What we need is something that clearly comes from fellow developers.
Re: How would we regulate software engineers?
#8Regulation would have to start with simple coding standards. Updated yearly. Much like building codes. A project could pick what standards they wanted to adhere to, and then everyone on the project would have to adhere to those standards -- the whole project would be audited by a third-party after the fact for compliance. There are plenty of good, short, concise coding standards to draw from. Especially useful in giv…
Yeah, this kind of mentality produces utter shit like TOGAF. The code is still crap written by mediocre devs, but now includes at least 100% more complexity and needless abstraction!
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Re: How would we regulate software engineers?
#9Regulation would have to start with simple coding standards. Updated yearly. Much like building codes. A project could pick what standards they wanted to adhere to, and then everyone on the project would have to adhere to those standards -- the whole project would be audited by a third-party after the fact for compliance. There are plenty of good, short, concise coding standards to draw from. Especially useful in giv…
Yeah, this kind of mentality produces utter shit like TOGAF. The code is still crap written by mediocre devs, but now includes at least 100% more complexity and needless abstraction!
TOGAF - The Open Group Architecture Framework [0] for anyone else wondering
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Open_Group_Architecture_Fr...
Re: How would we regulate software engineers?
#10Software engineers are not professionals like doctors, lawyers, or chartered accountants. Real professionals have a degree of autonomy and their primary obligation is to the ethical standards of their profession, not to their employers.