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Certification is needed to hold software "engineers" accountable for shoddy software. Eventually I expect anglo countries to catch up to what other developed co

Certification is needed to hold software "engineers" accountable for shoddy software. Eventually I expect anglo countries to catch up to what other developed countries do and regulate the term.

nradov 3y ago
Nah, there's no need. If customers don't want shoddy software then they should specify clear quality requirements in their purchase contracts.
- PrimeMcFly 3y ago
  There is absolutely a need, and it is inevitable licensing/certification will happen at some point. If software engineers screw up code for say a pacemaker, or an airplane, or a self-driving car, they should be held to the same standards as a civil engineer who was negligent in a bridge design which led to deaths.
  - nradov 3y ago
    Nah, you're just making things up. Irrational cranks have been pushing for certification for decades but in the real world no one cares. For pacemakers the FDA already certifies medical devices based on the entire design, manufacturing, and testing process of which software is only one part. Requiring certification for the programmers involved would be just stupid and accomplish nothing.
    - PrimeMcFly 3y ago
      I'm not making anything up. Certification/licensing is the way it's done in most developed countries and for good reason. Nothing irrational for pushing for it either. Plenty of advantages. It's mostly irrational cranks arguing against it because they think they will lose some degree of freedom. As I said though, it will happen eventually, and inevitably.
      - rcxdude 3y ago
        It's actually a thing that's only close to universal for civil engineering. Electronics and mechanical engineers for aircraft, for example, are not usually licensed in the US nor the UK, and in places like Canada where the use of the term is more heavily regulated, it had more of an impact on job titles than anything else. Like a lot of aspects of other branches of engineering, I think it's often viewed with rose-tinted glasses by software engineers. Basically everything that software engineers complain about happens with other disciplines as well!

Certification is needed to hold software "engineers" accountable for shoddy software. Eventually I expect anglo countries to catch up to what other developed countries do and regulate the term.

nradov 3y ago

Nah, there's no need. If customers don't want shoddy software then they should specify clear quality requirements in their purchase contracts.

PrimeMcFly 3y ago
There is absolutely a need, and it is inevitable licensing/certification will happen at some point. If software engineers screw up code for say a pacemaker, or an airplane, or a self-driving car, they should be held to the same standards as a civil engineer who was negligent in a bridge design which led to deaths.
- nradov 3y ago
  Nah, you're just making things up. Irrational cranks have been pushing for certification for decades but in the real world no one cares. For pacemakers the FDA already certifies medical devices based on the entire design, manufacturing, and testing process of which software is only one part. Requiring certification for the programmers involved would be just stupid and accomplish nothing.
  - PrimeMcFly 3y ago
    I'm not making anything up. Certification/licensing is the way it's done in most developed countries and for good reason. Nothing irrational for pushing for it either. Plenty of advantages. It's mostly irrational cranks arguing against it because they think they will lose some degree of freedom. As I said though, it will happen eventually, and inevitably.
    - rcxdude 3y ago
      It's actually a thing that's only close to universal for civil engineering. Electronics and mechanical engineers for aircraft, for example, are not usually licensed in the US nor the UK, and in places like Canada where the use of the term is more heavily regulated, it had more of an impact on job titles than anything else. Like a lot of aspects of other branches of engineering, I think it's often viewed with rose-tinted glasses by software engineers. Basically everything that software engineers complain about happens with other disciplines as well!