101–110 of 176 posts
I’m sure this article is right about some stuff, but man if it doesn’t make me sad to read. Software can be so exciting and fun, and this “careerist” perspective really sucks the joy out of it. If you’re looking for something that is kind of the opposite of this article: https://ferd.ca/the-little-printf.html .
> Engineers are hired to create business value, not to program things. That's a false dichotomy. Engineers create value _by_—among other things—programming computers. That's nothing to be ashamed of by trying to elevate your title to some perceived higher status by calling yourself an "engineer". If anything, I identify more as a programmer, than to the field of engineering. Sure, there's more to creating value in a…
I agree, and it disqualifies most tech companies.
Don't call yourself an Engineer unless you are licensed to do so. Most states have a professional licensing board to oversee the practice of Engineering. Here's the link to the one in my home state of Indiana.[1] I've been a programmer, system administrator and a machinist. I've never called myself an engineer, and wouldn't want the criminal liability for doing so. I wouldn't call myself a "computer doctor" either fo…
You are very much legally in the clear to call yourself an engineer, even if your actual title is "Solutions Engineer" (i.e., sales). You cannot however represent yourself as a licensed professional (engineering or otherwise) without actually having that license. That's what's illegal.
Don't call yourself an Engineer unless you are licensed to do so. Most states have a professional licensing board to oversee the practice of Engineering. Here's the link to the one in my home state of Indiana.[1] I've been a programmer, system administrator and a machinist. I've never called myself an engineer, and wouldn't want the criminal liability for doing so. I wouldn't call myself a "computer doctor" either fo…
This seems pretty hyperbolic. Are electrical engineeers not engineers since the majority of them don’t get a P.E. Are you seriously that worried about criminal prosecution? That seems like a different kind of problem, if true.
For example, in Canada, the title "engineer" is reserved for licensed/professional engineers, so it would be misleading to use the title "electrical engineer" if they're not actually licensed.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Plumbing generally works despite being constrained by real world non-idealities and things like wear-and-tear. We belong with the lawyers, who are working in an entirely human constructed framework but have somehow fucked it up so bad that it has loopholes and undefined/unexpected behavior.
Is that not what we're doing with distributed systems? A lot of the theory & practice of our field is how to elegantly cope with servers dying, data being corrupted, load limits of single machines, etc. We have a lot of constraints. And there's no possible way not to have some leaky abstractions with this in front of us.
But it is less funny if we go with code-plumber, the goal here is to justify trying to steal the protected job title.
I’m sure this article is right about some stuff, but man if it doesn’t make me sad to read. Software can be so exciting and fun, and this “careerist” perspective really sucks the joy out of it. If you’re looking for something that is kind of the opposite of this article: https://ferd.ca/the-little-printf.html .
Don't call yourself an Engineer unless you are licensed to do so. Most states have a professional licensing board to oversee the practice of Engineering. Here's the link to the one in my home state of Indiana.[1] I've been a programmer, system administrator and a machinist. I've never called myself an engineer, and wouldn't want the criminal liability for doing so. I wouldn't call myself a "computer doctor" either fo…
Here in Japan you can hear someone calling themselves a software engineer, fresh out of a bootcamp. The original meaning of engineering has gotten lost over the time, diluted by a sense of self-importance. Imagine a world in which we let the bootcamp grads build our bridges and medical devices (Therac anyone?). I don’t mean to be a gatekeeper. Keeping someone from practicing medicine if they won’t get a degree is not…
It's gatekeeping that we all pretty much agree is a good thing, but it's still gatekeeping.
so when will we declare this advice outdated? Or extremely limited. The first thing that is outdated, the advice is basically don't be a programmer be an expert in something the company needs. The thing is in the modern world the company often needs programmers more than it needs the other expertise, hence the big salaries we earn getting hired to solve problems. >There are companies which create software which actua…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
And isn’t it a good thing that that manager helped you realize not to waste your time with that company?
I see programmers are as good at judging whole-ass companies as hiring managers are good at judging whole-ass peoples Which is to say, they are awful at it and will act like one observation of one characteristic is more than enough data to evaluate complex machineries