4 ms·

That's laughable. Software "engineers" pretending that "software engineer" is a protected title in any way or form (including soft and metaphorical community ba

That's laughable. Software "engineers" pretending that "software engineer" is a protected title in any way or form (including soft and metaphorical community based protection). We'll get to call software engineers actual engineers when they can lose their (currently not existent) license over malpractice, not a second before that happens. The tech industry cheapens the term "engineer". The discipline isn't nearly enough mature to be called that

pjmlp 5y ago
It certainly is in many countries, where one isn't legally allowed to call themselves as such after a 6 weeks bootcamp.
- lazide 5y ago
  Do you have any cites for that? I’m not aware of any that even attempt to hold software engineers to any sort of Professional Engineer standard, or have a mechanism that one could actually comply if they did. I do know of some areas where a PE is required for some software engineers, like some nuke or aerospace shops, but they’re very very few in number - and the PE isn’t about the software part of it.
  - formerly_proven 5y ago
    In Germany you can only call yourself an engineer if you actually have a technical degree (details and exact implications vary by state). "Software Engineer" might or might not fall under that regulation, though it is probably the reason why most job ads in German will call for "Software developers" not "engineers".
    - lazide 5y ago
      Sure enough, thanks! Looked it up and it seems like Engineer is the protected title, which plausibly would apply (Ingenieur formally).
  - pjmlp 5y ago
    Portugal, Germany and Switzerland for example.
avgcorrection 5y ago
Almost as laughable as people who fawn over professional titles.
- dudeman13 5y ago
  I mean, you can call a homeopath doctor (not sure if the expression is actually valid in english... it is on my native language) an actual doctor and it's gonna be approximately as ridiculous as calling a software engineer an actual engineer. Tis a technical blog, being pedantic about expression meanings is all the rage around these parts :)
  - avgcorrection 5y ago
    Well as long as we’re being “tehnical” you seem to have completely missed my point. Whether you are called a “tehnologist” or a “code monkey” or a “janitor” or an “engineer” is less important than the work you do. And being obsessed with pretentious titles is much more of a sickness of doctors, engineers and other professionals, and I would venture to guess less of a sickness of homeopaths, aroma therapists and other weirdoes.
serrel 5y ago
I wish more people saw through the corruption of terms like software engineer.

pjmlp 5y ago

It certainly is in many countries, where one isn't legally allowed to call themselves as such after a 6 weeks bootcamp.

lazide 5y ago
Do you have any cites for that? I’m not aware of any that even attempt to hold software engineers to any sort of Professional Engineer standard, or have a mechanism that one could actually comply if they did. I do know of some areas where a PE is required for some software engineers, like some nuke or aerospace shops, but they’re very very few in number - and the PE isn’t about the software part of it.
- formerly_proven 5y ago
  In Germany you can only call yourself an engineer if you actually have a technical degree (details and exact implications vary by state). "Software Engineer" might or might not fall under that regulation, though it is probably the reason why most job ads in German will call for "Software developers" not "engineers".
  - lazide 5y ago
    Sure enough, thanks! Looked it up and it seems like Engineer is the protected title, which plausibly would apply (Ingenieur formally).
- pjmlp 5y ago
  Portugal, Germany and Switzerland for example.

avgcorrection 5y ago

Almost as laughable as people who fawn over professional titles.

dudeman13 5y ago
I mean, you can call a homeopath doctor (not sure if the expression is actually valid in english... it is on my native language) an actual doctor and it's gonna be approximately as ridiculous as calling a software engineer an actual engineer. Tis a technical blog, being pedantic about expression meanings is all the rage around these parts :)
- avgcorrection 5y ago
  Well as long as we’re being “tehnical” you seem to have completely missed my point. Whether you are called a “tehnologist” or a “code monkey” or a “janitor” or an “engineer” is less important than the work you do. And being obsessed with pretentious titles is much more of a sickness of doctors, engineers and other professionals, and I would venture to guess less of a sickness of homeopaths, aroma therapists and other weirdoes.

serrel 5y ago

I wish more people saw through the corruption of terms like software engineer.