41–50 of 52 posts
There's a corollary to the 90/10 rule: if solving a whole problem seems infeasible, try solving 80% of it instead.
There's a whole big market out there for people who can execute the full 100% while everyone else stops after the easy 90. Case in point: Apple.
"From what I can tell, nothing is more frustrating to an engineer than a non-engineer asking for something complex, and treating it like it’s trivial." Yes, yes, and more yes. When programmers say "possible," they mean before the heat death of the universe. That doesn't mean all possible things are automatically trivial, despite their apparent obviousness.
7) Don't call people engineers when the appropriate term is "developer" or "programmer"
7) Don't call people engineers when the appropriate term is "developer" or "programmer"
Our friends with the iron ring (if Canadian) are very sensitive and misusing the term engineer will elicit tears.
There's a legal restriction on Professional Engineer and the P.Eng designation, but that's for very good reasons which have to do with liability and the protection of the public. That's a different beast, though, and in the general case "engineering" a solution to a problem is still engineering, whether or not you have a piece of paper telling you it is.
7) Don't call people engineers when the appropriate term is "developer" or "programmer"
If you apply cleverness to solve problems, you're an engineer. Engineering is the verb form of ingenious.
7) Don't call people engineers when the appropriate term is "developer" or "programmer"
If you apply cleverness to solve problems, you're an engineer. Engineering is the verb form of ingenious.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Our friends with the iron ring (if Canadian) are very sensitive and misusing the term engineer will elicit tears.
To expand on this. It is illegal in Canada for anyone without a proper engineering degree to call themselves an engineer. For example a computer scientist cannot call themselves an engineer while a computer or software engineer could.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Engineers precisely specify a problem and then build a solution that's correct to within a tolerance. I'm afraid I don't see the resemblance to programming.
A very precise definition of an engineer? Engineers build tools. Artists build amusements. Scientists build ideas. Programmer = Engineer.