2mo ago

Programmers: Stop Calling Yourselves Engineers

www.theatlantic.com Programmers: Stop Calling Yourselves Engineers

It undermines a long tradition of designing and building infrastructure in the public interest.

Old, but fun read that argues that today's programmers are not like typical Engineers and shouldn't really call themselves that as Engineering requires certification, is subject to government regulation, bear a burden to the public, etc.

TechNews @radiation.party

irradiated @radiation.party

BOT

1y ago

Programmers should not call themselves engineers (2015)

www.theatlantic.com /technology/archive/2015/11/programmers-should-not-call-themselves-engineers/414271/

7 2

You're viewing a single thread.

77 comments

Wait, not "software engineer", just "engineer"? That's definitely bullshit.
- Even "software engineer" is a bit sketchy. Should testers start calling themselves "Software doctors"? Lol
  
  No, that's silly.
  They should call themselves "exterminators" since they look for bugs.
  
  But they don't actually remove the bugs 🤔
  
  I'm ambivalent. I don't really care about titles generally, but at least software engineer clearly isn't anything else.
  That said, while the term software engineer is a lost cause, I wouldn't be opposed to some comparable, regulated title where the person has to sign off on code bases and is responsible for major flaws. Obviously you wouldn't use that as a barrier for every piece of code, but as a requirement for handling personal information on a certain scale? (Obviously it would be pointless until you also regulated intentional sharing of information a hell of a lot better, but still.)
  
  Yeah! My job is to triage, diagnose and remedy. Don't confuse the two!

77 comments