4 ms·

I would say that 30% of Facebook's engineers are top notch, and 70% are just average php and javascript developers. Pet peeve of mine: why is the word "enginee

by itmag 15y ago

I would say that 30% of Facebook's engineers are top notch, and 70% are just average php and javascript developers. Pet peeve of mine: why is the word "engineer" thrown around so much on HN? Is it meant to distinguish a certain class of people from mere coders? Or is it just a fancy word of saying "coder"? I've always referred to myself as a coder. Should I change this? I am genuinely curious, not trying to put anyone down.

pwaring 15y ago
It's how Facebook refer to their 'coders', and in many ways it's a better word because it suggests something more than just hacking [insert language] all day. For example, an engineer might be concerned about how their code fits into the bigger picture, whether there is a better way of doing things etc., rather than thrashing out code for a daily rate.
scorpion032 15y ago
I personally find the word coder derogatory. It is looked upon that way by someone who thinks of the act as a assembly line creation process. Programer and Engineer are better tasteful replacements.
qntm 15y ago
A coder is somebody who writes code. Engineering is much broader discipline than just writing the code - it means writing it well, writing it to be concise, readable, maintainable, standards-compliant, specification-compliant, reliable, well-performing, possibly scalable, user-friendly and everything else that what is essentially a robust machine needs to be. In addition, software engineers can specialise in development, testing, design/architecture, performance, UI and probably many other things I can't think of right now. What I'm saying is that making software good is hard. It takes a lot of different skills in addition to mere coding. Actually writing the code - pressing buttons on a computer to enter text into an editor - is one stage in a long process, and all of these stages are as important as each other. Some of these are skills which you probably have! So calling yourself a mere coder is underselling yourself.

by itmag 15y ago

pwaring 15y ago

It's how Facebook refer to their 'coders', and in many ways it's a better word because it suggests something more than just hacking [insert language] all day. For example, an engineer might be concerned about how their code fits into the bigger picture, whether there is a better way of doing things etc., rather than thrashing out code for a daily rate.

scorpion032 15y ago

I personally find the word coder derogatory. It is looked upon that way by someone who thinks of the act as a assembly line creation process. Programer and Engineer are better tasteful replacements.

qntm 15y ago

A coder is somebody who writes code. Engineering is much broader discipline than just writing the code - it means writing it well, writing it to be concise, readable, maintainable, standards-compliant, specification-compliant, reliable, well-performing, possibly scalable, user-friendly and everything else that what is essentially a robust machine needs to be. In addition, software engineers can specialise in development, testing, design/architecture, performance, UI and probably many other things I can't think of right now. What I'm saying is that making software good is hard. It takes a lot of different skills in addition to mere coding. Actually writing the code - pressing buttons on a computer to enter text into an editor - is one stage in a long process, and all of these stages are as important as each other. Some of these are skills which you probably have! So calling yourself a mere coder is underselling yourself.