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It is software engineering. Success is not accumulated on perfecting a formula in a dusty study of an ancient university but in the messy and human business dom

It is software engineering. Success is not accumulated on perfecting a formula in a dusty study of an ancient university but in the messy and human business domain. Success almost always has to do with time to market

Sharlin 4y ago
Almost no other engineering discipline is volatile like that. So why should SE be? There are trends and fashions, of course, and missteps along the way, but the success of building a bridge has nothing to do with time to market. (The success of selling a bridge still might!) Sure, many engineering fields are similarly at the mercy of erratic consumer or business interests, but the fundamentals of what makes a good fridge or camera or building aren’t decided by the marketing department or some yelling contest on the internet where the winner is who has the most Github stars. Real engineering absolutely progresses in universities hand in hand with the real world, or do you think that institutions like the MIT or Caltech or Cambridge’s School of Technology don’t have anything to do with the success of engineering endeavors everywhere?
- dudeofea 4y ago
  I know electrical engineers that spend their whole day picking out doors for hydro-electric facilities and chemical engineers whose job is to sell various pipe valves. The programmer equivalent might be refactoring variable names to "int i_FallDistance_mm" or working in crypto. If you aren't sure if your current job is one that an engineer would do, you could consult the engineer code of ethics. Broadly: 1. shall, in their areas of practice, hold paramount the health, safety and welfare of the public and have regard for the environment. 2. shall undertake only work that they are competent to perform by virtue of their training and experience. 3. shall conduct themselves with integrity, honesty, fairness, and objectivity in their professional activities. 4. shall comply with applicable statutes, regulations, and bylaws in their professional practices. 5. shall uphold and enhance the honour, dignity, and reputation of their professions and, thus, the ability of the professions to serve the public interest https://www.apega.ca/docs/default-source/pdfs/standards-guidelines/ethical-practice.pdf?sfvrsn=78261e0b_14 https://www.apega.ca/docs/default-source/pdfs/standards-guid...
- hbrn 4y ago
  > Almost no other engineering discipline is volatile like that. So why should SE be? Because it can afford to be like that. You seem to be treating volatility as something negative. But it's only a side effect of software engineering industries being incredibly cheap to launch and scale. You can't start a transnational construction company in a garage. But you can start Google.

Sharlin 4y ago

Almost no other engineering discipline is volatile like that. So why should SE be? There are trends and fashions, of course, and missteps along the way, but the success of building a bridge has nothing to do with time to market. (The success of selling a bridge still might!) Sure, many engineering fields are similarly at the mercy of erratic consumer or business interests, but the fundamentals of what makes a good fridge or camera or building aren’t decided by the marketing department or some yelling contest on the internet where the winner is who has the most Github stars. Real engineering absolutely progresses in universities hand in hand with the real world, or do you think that institutions like the MIT or Caltech or Cambridge’s School of Technology don’t have anything to do with the success of engineering endeavors everywhere?

dudeofea 4y ago
I know electrical engineers that spend their whole day picking out doors for hydro-electric facilities and chemical engineers whose job is to sell various pipe valves. The programmer equivalent might be refactoring variable names to "int i_FallDistance_mm" or working in crypto. If you aren't sure if your current job is one that an engineer would do, you could consult the engineer code of ethics. Broadly: 1. shall, in their areas of practice, hold paramount the health, safety and welfare of the public and have regard for the environment. 2. shall undertake only work that they are competent to perform by virtue of their training and experience. 3. shall conduct themselves with integrity, honesty, fairness, and objectivity in their professional activities. 4. shall comply with applicable statutes, regulations, and bylaws in their professional practices. 5. shall uphold and enhance the honour, dignity, and reputation of their professions and, thus, the ability of the professions to serve the public interest https://www.apega.ca/docs/default-source/pdfs/standards-guidelines/ethical-practice.pdf?sfvrsn=78261e0b_14 https://www.apega.ca/docs/default-source/pdfs/standards-guid...
hbrn 4y ago
> Almost no other engineering discipline is volatile like that. So why should SE be? Because it can afford to be like that. You seem to be treating volatility as something negative. But it's only a side effect of software engineering industries being incredibly cheap to launch and scale. You can't start a transnational construction company in a garage. But you can start Google.