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> Our task is solving problems in efficient ways, and optimizing things for one thing or another Sounds literally like every other white collar job, or in fact

> Our task is solving problems in efficient ways, and optimizing things for one thing or another Sounds literally like every other white collar job, or in fact ideally any job ever. I agree with OP, we devs are sometimes a bit too full of ourselves, when in fact mostly we have simply just another engineering work. I used to think that way too when I was young, naive and inexperienced. My wife is a doctor, and when I compare, we have it too easy considering our compensation. When was the last time your bug killed a human being / destroyed their health for good? When was the last time when you got dragged into court for a bug you submitted 3 years ago and jail with permanent loss of license was a real option? Getting 25$ for 12-hour weekend nightshift? Instead we have remote work, digital nomads and people humble-bragging about 400k FAANG compensations being at the low end and barely livable.

rodrigo975 7y ago
Just a short list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_software_bugs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_software_bugs * By some accounts Toyota's electronic throttle control system (ETCS) had bugs that could cause sudden unintended acceleration * The Boeing 787 Dreamliner experienced an integer overflow bug which could shut down all electrical generators if the aircraft was on for more than 248 days * In early 2019, the transportation-rental firm Lime discovered a firmware bug with its electric scooters that can cause them to brake unexpectedly very hard, which may hurl and injure riders.[6 * A bug in the code controlling the Therac-25 radiation therapy machine was directly responsible for at least five patient deaths in the 1980s when it administered excessive quantities of beta radiation Now we have to sit and wait for the autonomous vehicles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_self-driving_car_fatalities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_self-driving_car_fatal...
- saiya-jin 7y ago
  Yeah and that's what, 0.1% of all software devs globally that can potentially do physical harm? Most of us just hurl data between places and worst damage is financial. You can't even compare the scales. If you're a construction engineer, any serious flaw in any building you design can kill, sometimes hundreds. How many engineers of those few cases you mention went into jail and were forbidden to work in software industry forever?

rodrigo975 7y ago

Just a short list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_software_bugs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_software_bugs * By some accounts Toyota's electronic throttle control system (ETCS) had bugs that could cause sudden unintended acceleration * The Boeing 787 Dreamliner experienced an integer overflow bug which could shut down all electrical generators if the aircraft was on for more than 248 days * In early 2019, the transportation-rental firm Lime discovered a firmware bug with its electric scooters that can cause them to brake unexpectedly very hard, which may hurl and injure riders.[6 * A bug in the code controlling the Therac-25 radiation therapy machine was directly responsible for at least five patient deaths in the 1980s when it administered excessive quantities of beta radiation Now we have to sit and wait for the autonomous vehicles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_self-driving_car_fatalities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_self-driving_car_fatal...

saiya-jin 7y ago
Yeah and that's what, 0.1% of all software devs globally that can potentially do physical harm? Most of us just hurl data between places and worst damage is financial. You can't even compare the scales. If you're a construction engineer, any serious flaw in any building you design can kill, sometimes hundreds. How many engineers of those few cases you mention went into jail and were forbidden to work in software industry forever?