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I've been programming for forty-five years. I've always called myself a programmer. "Developers" are people who build subdivisions. Anything else is pretentiou

I've been programming for forty-five years. I've always called myself a programmer. "Developers" are people who build subdivisions. Anything else is pretentious. "Engineers" are people who, if they make a mistake, other people die. Engineers need to be formally trained, and licensed. Other than X-ray machines, aircraft and space shuttle software, not a lot of programmers can make this claim. "programmer" is good enough for most of us.

tjr 16y ago
I work on aircraft software. We call our people "engineers", though no-one has a license. I'm not aware of a license we could usefully get. However, the aircraft software industry is deeply immersed in process and layers of review. Rather than licensing our engineers, we "license" our product, through internal reviews, customer reviews, and FAA reviews.
- olalonde 16y ago
  As a side note, I believe it is illegal to call yourself an engineer in Canada unless you are licensed.
  - aaronbrethorst 16y ago
    Next time you're talking with a Canadian software developer, look to see if they're wearing pinky rings. That should tell you whether they're actually an engineer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Ring http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Ring)
iamelgringo 16y ago
I've been programming for forty-five years. Graybeard: much respect
btilly 16y ago
I call myself a programmer. I can't control what other people call me. In the past I've been called a consultant, developer, programmer, engineer, and architect. I'm currently called a "site reliability engineer". Ironically the guy who sits next to me, with the same job title, is a real electrical engineer. (His engineering degree is from Cambridge..as is his PhD.) When I compare myself to him, I feel a little embarrassed to be called an "engineer" of any sort.
access_denied 16y ago
In the vein of GnarfGnarf's comment I want to add, the term 'egineer' omits a certain aspect of programming, namely that it is, IMHO at least, also a craft. 'Developer' and 'Egineer' work better if you use it to name a sub-field instead of a person. 'Software Egineering' points clearly to the software architecture part of building software. 'Software Development' gives a hint of the fact that building a piece of software is a process. In the end it really doesn't matter, partly because nobody just 'develops software'. We all work in certain industries on specific problems and what we have in common is mainly the fact that we punch in the code - programming the processor.

tjr 16y ago

I work on aircraft software. We call our people "engineers", though no-one has a license. I'm not aware of a license we could usefully get. However, the aircraft software industry is deeply immersed in process and layers of review. Rather than licensing our engineers, we "license" our product, through internal reviews, customer reviews, and FAA reviews.

olalonde 16y ago
As a side note, I believe it is illegal to call yourself an engineer in Canada unless you are licensed.
- aaronbrethorst 16y ago
  Next time you're talking with a Canadian software developer, look to see if they're wearing pinky rings. That should tell you whether they're actually an engineer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Ring http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Ring)

iamelgringo 16y ago

I've been programming for forty-five years. Graybeard: much respect

btilly 16y ago

I call myself a programmer. I can't control what other people call me. In the past I've been called a consultant, developer, programmer, engineer, and architect. I'm currently called a "site reliability engineer". Ironically the guy who sits next to me, with the same job title, is a real electrical engineer. (His engineering degree is from Cambridge..as is his PhD.) When I compare myself to him, I feel a little embarrassed to be called an "engineer" of any sort.

access_denied 16y ago

In the vein of GnarfGnarf's comment I want to add, the term 'egineer' omits a certain aspect of programming, namely that it is, IMHO at least, also a craft. 'Developer' and 'Egineer' work better if you use it to name a sub-field instead of a person. 'Software Egineering' points clearly to the software architecture part of building software. 'Software Development' gives a hint of the fact that building a piece of software is a process. In the end it really doesn't matter, partly because nobody just 'develops software'. We all work in certain industries on specific problems and what we have in common is mainly the fact that we punch in the code - programming the processor.