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.

  • spedswir@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    17 hours ago

    There is a big difference between a software engineer and a software developer/programmer. In the same way there is a difference between a civil engineer and a builder.

    A software engineer is the one who scopes the project. They define the feasibility, the limitation and exeptions, the tools to use, as well as costing and time planning and management.

    The programmers are the ones who work to this scope and utilise the specified tools and technologies to create the product.

    I have a degree in software engineering and all of this was covered. From writing scoping documentation, to time and costing with Gantt charts. This is the actual difference.

    • vext01@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      1·
      10 hours ago

      I’ve always used “software engineering” to refer to the other stuff that comes alongside actual development, like version control, testing, CI, debugging, code review, release management etc.