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I'm not sure if this is a serious comment. On one hand you have professions and roles where failures are measured in lost revenue versus another where failures
by a_square_peg 6y ago
I'm not sure if this is a serious comment.
On one hand you have professions and roles where failures are measured in lost revenue versus another where failures are measured in lost lives.
- onion2k 6y agoSoftware failures can, and do, cost lives. If you believe the worst thing that can happen as a software engineer is that you might lose a company some money then you are very, very wrong.
- Aeolun 6y agoI very much doubt that most of us are in a position to do more than make a customer sad.
- a_square_peg 6y agoI mostly worked with safety-critical software on avionics and lately with software on medical device so I hope I do understand. Rather than downplaying the role of software, my point was on pointing out that meteorologists and medical doctors are specialist roles requiring years of focused training. These aren't one of many hats that can be worn by a generalist.
- onion2k 6y agomy point was on pointing out that meteorologists and medical doctors are specialist roles requiring years of focused training Yes, and my point is that there are plenty of doctors and probably most meterologists who write code as part of their jobs. Meterology is statistical modelling at heart, and that requires lots of code. Don't forget that we get soemthing like 40 years of our careers; there's plenty of time to become an expert in a field and then to learn how to write code to build tools to do it better.
- true_religion 6y agoThose are indeed specialist roles, but nothing is stopping a potential doctor from taking software engineering in undergrad, or from keeping up with the field while working through med school. I had a teammate who did the later.