this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2024
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Programmers: Stop Calling Yourselves Engineers (www.theatlantic.com)
submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by drd@lemmy.ml to c/technology@lemmy.world
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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.

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[โ€“] leisesprecher@feddit.org 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

All this gate keeping is bullshit, but I do have to agree that we are really bad at actually engineering.

[โ€“] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I don't think gate keeping engineering is bullshit, software or otherwise. In fact I think it is one of the few eminently important things to gatekeep.

If computer systems have peoples lives depending on them, having accredited engineers that may be part of a chain of liability for their mistakes is a potentially life saving measure. It provides increased guarantee that someone will be held responsible, be it the firm, or in the case of bankruptcy, the individual engineer.

This provides a significant incentive to only sign off on work that meets all relevant safety criteria.

I'm not sure if that's how it works in software engineering, but it certainly should.