161–170 of 194 posts
Random trivia: the "iron version" picture is of my own ring, uploaded a few years back when I was messing around with my friend's new camera. Pleasant surprise not only to see this on HN, but to see that the picture is still there after all this time :) As far as I know my year (2005) was one of the last years that U of T still offered an actual iron version, as opposed to stainless steel (most other schools no longe…
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I hate to break it to the guy, but if you architect software systems, you are indeed a Software Architect. You're not "an architect," you did not call yourself "an architect," but it's the word that fits the job. Now, if the World of Academia could attempt to catch up with technology (I know, it's a mad mad world that travels at high velocity and may even continue to accelerate, but a guy can dream) and start offerin…
In all fairness, there has never been anything quite like "architecting" software, or "engineering" software. As Brooks put it, software is the most complex thing humans have ever built; perhaps we should find some other term that sets us apart from ordinary engineers and architects. Or we could just continue working, not caring what other people think. That's usually what I do, after I tell people I'm a "code monkey…
Peter Naur (of Backus-Naur form) called it "theory-building". https://dl.getdropbox.com/u/502901/naurtf.pdf
My Iron Ring has been a conversation starter wherever I travel, and I've only had it for 5 years. Any time I'm in the Valley, people recognize the ring and ask if I went to Waterloo. Funny thing is that I did, but I usually try to explain to them that all Canadian engineering graduates wear it, not just Waterloo. I was even in Italy with my then-girlfriend-now-fiancee, and I had someone strike up a conversation with…
I was at the grocery store and the cashier motioned to my hand and showed me her ring and we had a short discussion. I felt happy that I had this bond with a person I had never met and then immediately very sad that she was working as a cashier in a grocery store.
Another was when I visited New York for the marathon. Ran into another fellow at the airport who recognized I was from Canada because of my MEC backpack. I then noticed he had on a ring and turned out he was a professor who had once taught at my alma mater.
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> As Brooks put it, software is the most complex thing humans have ever built; perhaps we should find some other term that sets us apart from ordinary engineers and architects. Developer.
Developing is what you do to real estate.
I worked my way through college doing web development while studying 80 hours per week on top of that for years to get my engineering degrees. Having systematic devaluation of that is deflating, if not wrong.
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"As far as levers and bolts go, a lot of them have sensors monitored by software for stress." That's in the far minority of situations. As part of my ME curriculum, I've worked with these types of sensors. It's very rare you'll find them monitoring bolts and levers. It's true that software is extremely pervasive, however I believe you're overestimating the critical nature of it in most applications. Cars, bridges, bu…
You can't take a static view of the situation. More and more mechanical linkages are moving to microcontrollers, software and actuators. The point is that software is an ever-increasing percentage of the most common items around us and as a result, its impact on our lives grows every day. mechanical failure will most often be the more serious issue When the software is so tightly interlinked with the sensors and mech…
At a more fundamental level, all components related to mechanical advantage that are so prevalent in our lives, yet mostly forgotten (gears, screws, levers, pulleys, wedges, etc.) are not being replaced by microcontrollers or actuators. You'd be hard pressed to find a better software+electronic component solution to solve the problem that the screw solves.
I assure you, I love software far more than I've ever loved mechanical engineering, but it's naive to think that it will overtake (or even come close to being more critical than) fundamental mechanics. Aside from information and communication, software only serves as a proxy for control over our physical world. I guarantee you that if you were to take a look around, the amount of pure "stuff" derived from basic engineering greatly dwarfs that derived from software.
While we could live in a shittier version of our world without software, we couldn't live in a world without traditional engineering.
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I was at a networking event once, and handed a gentleman my business card. My title listed on the card was 'Software Architect'. He himself was an actual Architect (who designs physical structures), and he became upset and claimed I had absolutely no right to that title. I had never given it much thought until that point, but some folks are very protective over that sort of thing.
I dunno about software architects, but it's not terribly surprising that people are defensive over the engineering title. The difference in difficulty between computer science courses and the engineering courses is like night and day, so it doesn't really surprise me when my EE/CE friends are frustrated when compsci majors try to call themselves engineers.
Hell, many of the courses have huge overlaps in material, and both programs allow the courses in the other programs to be substituted for each other. I'm not arguing that CPSC majors should be allowed to call themselves engineers, but I believe you might be mistaken as to how different the two programs/fields may be.
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It's actually not about having "earned" it; it's not meant to be a token of having completed the degree, or having been stupendously good at some technical piece of work. It's meant as a reminder to the obligation you have to society not to cut corners on safety, and that your responsibilities to your employer do not outweigh those you have to Canadians generally.
and an engineer needs a ring to remind him of the above?
Is there something like this for Software developers? We make the world go round and round; shouldn't we also have something this beautiful?
For most of us, people don't die when we fuck up.
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I guess it could be cut off if I really needed to :) But other than that, no it doesn't come off. You tend to gain weight as you get older, even on your fingers.
Shouldn't you get it adjusted then? I'd be afraid of losing the finger if it gets too tight.
Now it is part of my person.