Vernor Vinge uses the term "Programmer-Achaeologist", which feels appropriate to any time we're doing software maintenance. If I'm truly creating something new

Vernor Vinge uses the term "Programmer-Achaeologist", which feels appropriate to any time we're doing software maintenance. If I'm truly creating something new I'd go with "Software-Alchemist" since the practice feels much more in line with the efforts of alchemists to fumblingly come to grips with actual chemistry than with modern engineering. After reading about practices at JPL during the development of Curiosity, and the earlier work on Apollo (just two examples) I do think there is such a thing as an engineering practice of software development. I just don't think most of us are using it.