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> If you are hired as a programmer, then yes, just do whatever we ask of you. But if you are hired as an engineer, everything the business asks of you comes wit
by rplst8 10y ago
> If you are hired as a programmer, then yes, just do whatever we ask of you. But if you are hired as an engineer, everything the business asks of you comes with an implicit: "and make sure it's done in a proper way that won't break anything, or slow us down, or cost us too much, or limit our ability to gain a competitive edge."
This is a distinction that is a very thin line and most people with "engineer" in their title would not sign up for.
- Nomentatus 10y agoTrue, most engineers, and others, will commit crimes including criminal negligence, when asked firmly enough by a powerful corporation that can fire them. See Flint, Michigan, the great robbery of 2008 etc, etc. But the idea of a profession is that you don't, that you have professional ethics.
- rplst8 10y agoYeah the term engineer is thrown around pretty casually in the software world. You can apprentice and take the PE (Professional Engineer) test, but it's often hard to find software engineers with their PE certificate. It's much more common in other fields like Mechanical, Electrical, and primarily Civil. It all my years (15) of professional experience, I've only worked under one PE, an Electrical Engineer. In some states you literally can not have "engineer" in your job title unless you have a PE certificate/accreditation/whatever.