11–20 of 62 posts
What prevents a bar exam for reading and writing?
Would it be a good idea for such a thing to exist for the act of reading or writing books, news, or anything else involving language?
Why should this be treated any differently for speaking to a computer?
Why do you think that increasing the barriers of entry into software work is a good idea?
Software that could kill. Medical, aerospace, driverless?
The vast majority of software written today has precisely 0 ability to kill anyone.
Even IF you are working at a company doing one of those things, only a subset of engineers that are working there are going to working on the "core" part of the software. Those companies have lots of web developers making code that isn't dangerous as well.
To put it another way, reading and writing can kill as well. If the person writing the airplane manual screws up, it could kill someone. But does that mean we need a bar exam of writing English?
Why do you think that increasing the barriers of entry into software work is a good idea?
It could raise my wages. Being a doctor was a rather modest middle income wage until the AMA came along to raise barriers to entry.
You would need a professional organisation to lobby for laws, but I don't see engineers in the industry coming together and forming one. Professional organisations were a way to keep people out of a field by requiring them to have the connections or the money to afford the study materials and exam fees. And don't forget continuing education costs as well. This concept would turn away many of the anti-establishment ty…
Until software moves to more apprenticeships/residencies, I'm afraid we stuck in this "infancy" of a field.
It's already happened implicitly with the rise & spread of the "technical interview". By rote memorization of a body of knowledge which may or may not be applicable to the job at hand. Given the interchange between employers, these are more alike than different. Why would further formalization be any more valuable than say the Interior Decorator exam and license in Florida?
Professional exams oftentimes cover subjects like ethics, which would undoubtedly help the industry
I think this is the same question of "Why isn't there a bar exam for medical doctors". "Being qualified" for software requires nothing less than hands-on training. Until software moves to more apprenticeships/residencies, I'm afraid we stuck in this "infancy" of a field.
It's already happened implicitly with the rise & spread of the "technical interview". By rote memorization of a body of knowledge which may or may not be applicable to the job at hand. Given the interchange between employers, these are more alike than different. Why would further formalization be any more valuable than say the Interior Decorator exam and license in Florida?
Professional exams oftentimes cover subjects like ethics, which would undoubtedly help the industry