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While what you're saying is generally true, one should also keep in mind that people (especially engineers) are extremely biased and tend to drastically overest
by hbrn 4y ago
While what you're saying is generally true, one should also keep in mind that people (especially engineers) are extremely biased and tend to drastically overestimate the cost of mistakes.
Github Actions went down yesterday, disrupting the service for thousands of companies. They also went down today.
And yet, if they didn't have the "move fast" mindset, they probably wouldn't have Actions as a product in the first place.
- criddell 4y ago> one should also keep in mind that people (especially engineers) are extremely biased and tend to drastically overestimate the cost of mistakes. Perhaps that's true of software engineers but I don't think it's true for Professional Engineers. That's one of the reasons I wouldn't consider most people who call themselves software engineers to be an engineer at all.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- clpm4j 4y ago'developer' and 'programmer' really are more apt terms - 'engineer' sounds more impressive though
- epolanski 4y agoSo does vice president instead of manager or executive assistant instead of secretary.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- LtWorf 4y agoWait until you meet sales engineers
- paulryanrogers 4y ago> ...That's one of the reasons I wouldn't consider most people who call themselves software engineers to be an engineer at all. Few people who call themselves (non-software) engineers today are running locomotives. Words can evolve over time.
- tbrownaw 4y agoWhat does operating locomotives have to do with making sure the thing you're building follows all the rules and has appropriate safety factors and such?
- chowells 4y agoOperating trains is literally the origin of "engineer". It was a job that required significant application of accepted rules and methods to calculate acceptable speeds for cornering, hill climbing, and hill descent, especially when they were all combined. Getting outside the acceptable speed ranges could be catastrophic in every single one of those cases, and acceptable speeds could vary significantly depending on weather, train length, and train weight. The job was all about understanding how to correctly apply all the rules and control the vehicle to stay within safety factors.
- antod 4y ago>Operating trains is literally the origin of "engineer" That sounds pretty dubious to me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smeatonian_Society_of_Civil_Engineers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smeatonian_Society_of_Civil_En... There were probably earlier usages of the term too. As the article says the Civil bit came about to distinguish themselves from the older profession of Military Engineers.
- chowells 4y agoWhat "engine" do you think "engineer" is referring to?
- karthikb 4y ago> one should also keep in mind that people (especially engineers) are extremely biased and tend to drastically overestimate the cost of mistakes I've found the opposite to be true, especially with engineers moving from pure software to founding companies in regulated industries such as aerospace or medical devices.
- hbrn 4y agoGood point, though I'd say the major factor is dealing with hardware, not necessarily being regulated. You can't just push a hotfix to a million of on-premise devices with one click.