You are Not a Software Engineer

#1

Post by DanielRibeiro » Wed, May 04, 2011, 2:48 PM UTC

You are Not a Software Engineer
chrisaitchison.com

Re: You are Not a Software Engineer

#2

Post by tjr » Wed, May 04, 2011, 4:17 PM UTC

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

Re: You are Not a Software Engineer

#3

Post by mrcharles » Wed, May 04, 2011, 4:23 PM UTC

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."

Re: You are Not a Software Engineer

#4

Post by HeyLaughingBoy » Wed, May 04, 2011, 4:28 PM UTC

tjr wrote: post #2

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

Thank you.

I live in the Medical Device software domain. It gets tiring really fast when people keep proclaiming that software development can't be engineering. It certainly can; it's just that most organizations don't want to implement the discipline required.

You want very low bug counts, predictable software schedules and the ability to go home at 5 every night? Then implement a process to build what you need built, actually follow the process, track progress constantly and adjust when it starts going off the rails. Expensive and time consuming and requires buy-in from all levels of the organization? Yes, but TANSTAAFL.

Re: You are Not a Software Engineer

#5

Post by nuclear_eclipse » Wed, May 04, 2011, 4:28 PM UTC

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.

Re: You are Not a Software Engineer

#6

Post by garyrichardson » Wed, May 04, 2011, 4:31 PM UTC

tjr wrote: post #2

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

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.

Re: You are Not a Software Engineer

#7

Post by ajl2011 » Wed, May 04, 2011, 4:32 PM UTC

mrcharles wrote: post #3

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 necessa…

... web developers sigh

Re: You are Not a Software Engineer

#8

Post by dy » Wed, May 04, 2011, 4:38 PM UTC

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).

Re: You are Not a Software Engineer

#9

Post by heat_miser » Wed, May 04, 2011, 5:23 PM UTC

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.

Re: You are Not a Software Engineer

#10

Post by echobase » Wed, May 04, 2011, 5:43 PM UTC

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'.