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I became a software engineer after 5 years in data science

zachary-thomas.medium.com

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Re: I became a software engineer after 5 years in data science

#11

Post by recursive »

angrais wrote: post #9
echelon wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you do any sort of measurement, analysis, or design before implementing a system, you're leveraging engineering principles. Examples: measuring data scale for growth rate and future needs, calculating incremental costs of cloud instances and data stores, designing and proving a state machine, instrumenting systems, measuring and stress testing a system against load, understanding back pressure and dynamical behavi…

>> I've had to write short inductive proofs in several of the systems I've built. In what context was this necessary?

To provide evidence that a recursive algorithm actually works maybe?

Re: I became a software engineer after 5 years in data science

#12

Post by uxp100 »

halfmatthalfcat wrote: post #7
system2 wrote: post #2

Unless studied software engineering, you can switch to become an "engineer"? Wouldn't be software developer term more fitting?

The US doesn't have software "engineering" degrees, so how does one exactly study software engineering? Computer science, too, is not "engineering".

It does…

Re: I became a software engineer after 5 years in data science

#13

Post by geethree »

uxp100 wrote: post #12
halfmatthalfcat wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US doesn't have software "engineering" degrees, so how does one exactly study software engineering? Computer science, too, is not "engineering".

It does…

NCEES even offered a Professional Engineering license in it for awhile. Since discontinued due to lack of interest.

https://ncees.org/ncees-discontinuing-pe-software-engineerin...

Re: I became a software engineer after 5 years in data science

#14

Post by thinking4real »

mythhouse wrote: post #4
system2 wrote: post #2

Unless studied software engineering, you can switch to become an "engineer"? Wouldn't be software developer term more fitting?

oh no not this tired tangent again.

The ramblings of someone who’s low skill and low ambition usually

Re: I became a software engineer after 5 years in data science

#15

Post by DavidMiserak »

halfmatthalfcat wrote: post #7
system2 wrote: post #2

Unless studied software engineering, you can switch to become an "engineer"? Wouldn't be software developer term more fitting?

The US doesn't have software "engineering" degrees, so how does one exactly study software engineering? Computer science, too, is not "engineering".

There are colleges and universities in the USA that offer SE degrees, CMU is of note[0]

[0] https://www.ece.cmu.edu/academics/ms-se/index.html

Re: I became a software engineer after 5 years in data science

#16

Post by cellis »

system2 wrote: post #2

Unless studied software engineering, you can switch to become an "engineer"? Wouldn't be software developer term more fitting?

Upvoted not because I agree, but because I'm genuinely interested in the discussion. What is the difference in your opinion?

Re: I became a software engineer after 5 years in data science

#18

Post by thundergolfer »

cellis wrote: post #16
system2 wrote: post #2

Unless studied software engineering, you can switch to become an "engineer"? Wouldn't be software developer term more fitting?

Upvoted not because I agree, but because I'm genuinely interested in the discussion. What is the difference in your opinion?

This only opinion piece on the issue worth reading, because it's the only one that bothered to seek the opinions of the people that would know best: those people that have been software engineers _and_ some other kind of engineer.

https://www.hillelwayne.com/post/are-we-really-engineers/

Re: I became a software engineer after 5 years in data science

#19

Post by switchbak »

system2 wrote: post #2

Unless studied software engineering, you can switch to become an "engineer"? Wouldn't be software developer term more fitting?

I've worked with a bunch of engineers, and while I respect and admire them tremendously, I'd not want to be lumped in with the kind of code they generally write. And don't get me started on the typical code a scientist writes!

Let the downvotes commence.

Edit: This is a gentle ribbing, but there really does seem to be a different approach in the philosophy of how to solve a problem. Engineers seem to eschew abstraction while software folks embrace is (sometimes to a fault). It's actually pretty fascinating.

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