131–140 of 202 posts
We had a presentation of our new medical instrument to marketing on Wednesday so there was a big push on Monday to get the display up and running perfectly. There was a dot on the screen. I didn't know why there was a dot but I was under pressure to finish everything else. So I semi-ignored it. The the Engineering Manager walked by. "There's a dot," he said, "Get rid of it before Wednesday." With all the other things…
Software development has all of diagnoses, audits and proofreading.
It's an all-encompassing discipline.
> By Thursday, I began to worry about my own job security. I had been spinning on a feature I said I would ship 3 days ago. Off-topic: is it really like that in the US? (I'm assuming he's from the US). Like, if you get stuck for a few days, you start to worry about being fired or reprimanded?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nobody reasonable is saying that software isn't important, technical, or valuable. It isnt a dig. It just has to do with the subject matter and definition of Engineer. The clearest delineation is that an Engineers work is the application the laws of physics. Software developers are more akin to Scientists than Engineers. They work in the arrangement of logic and the semantic relation of abstractions. That is to say,…
The definitions you just came up with are completely arbitrary. Worst yet, your definitions aren't even shared. It's hard to pin down exact agreed upon definitions in English, but I searched many popular dictionaries and none of them have "Engineers work is the application the laws of physics". Fair enough if you want to have personal definitions of words, but don't try to gaslight the rest of us into thinking your u…
But, someone who isn't wearing a blue and white stripey hat can't possibly be an engineer.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is the moral of the story that the hardware engineer is simply correct? - a mechanical engineer
Or perhaps that nobody had the common sense to call a tow truck , so that they can get down the mountain without relying on a field repair to a safety-critical system.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "Well," said the software engineer, "Before we do anything, I think we should push the car back up the road and see if it happens again." Only the brakes don't work - the engine still does. Why would they need to push the car uphill?
The brakes failed, but nothing claimed that they will fail again. So, it's suggested to run the test again.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's mostly just a joke about how these roles do their jobs. But I think it's also partly illuminating the fact that hardware engineers are true engineers, while software engineers mostly aren't.
Why not hire hardware engineers to write software then?
That's quite a tale, a parable almost about how software engineering differs from other jobs (I want to say 'real' jobs but tongue in cheek). I like this one too, it's even snappier. A software engineer, a hardware engineer and a department manager were on their way to a meeting in Switzerland. They were driving down a steep mountain road when suddenly the brakes on their car failed. The car careened almost out of co…
> "Well," said the software engineer, "Before we do anything, I think we should push the car back up the road and see if it happens again." Only the brakes don't work - the engine still does. Why would they need to push the car uphill?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nobody reasonable is saying that software isn't important, technical, or valuable. It isnt a dig. It just has to do with the subject matter and definition of Engineer. The clearest delineation is that an Engineers work is the application the laws of physics. Software developers are more akin to Scientists than Engineers. They work in the arrangement of logic and the semantic relation of abstractions. That is to say,…
The definitions you just came up with are completely arbitrary. Worst yet, your definitions aren't even shared. It's hard to pin down exact agreed upon definitions in English, but I searched many popular dictionaries and none of them have "Engineers work is the application the laws of physics". Fair enough if you want to have personal definitions of words, but don't try to gaslight the rest of us into thinking your u…
Can you articulate the difference between an engineer and a scientist?
I've developed a real distaste for the people whining about how we aren't real engineers and we "just" need to solve that by working more like real engineers and having all these massive up-front design meetings and making tons more plans, etc. etc. It betrays a profound misunderstanding of the situation. The other engineering disciplines don't work like that because they're just soooo much more professional than us.…
1-A practical problem is being solved in a scientific way.
2-Safety, repeatability, understanding of the how and why of the solution are non-negotiable.
3-The person solving the problem has been credentialed as an engineer in both ethics and scientific rigour.
4-Because he is credentialed, there is non-waivable liability for the engineer signing off on the solution if it fails.
No whining or superiority intended, but if any of the four criteria is missing, you're not practicing engineering. In my experience most software development is missing all four. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just that most software development isn't engineering.
Again, nothing intended by it. There's no superiority to engineering over development.