4 ms·

Yeah, but the variation can be good. If I had to imagine what the hypothetical licensing process would be, I imagine it would be something easy that admits tons

Yeah, but the variation can be good. If I had to imagine what the hypothetical licensing process would be, I imagine it would be something easy that admits tons of mediocre devs. Plus, would it come in different language/subfield flavors to account for different roles? One job would ask me to implement a custom allocator, and I'd pass; another would ask me how to add Frondle to Artifactory, and I'd fail miserably.

parpfish 2y ago
Actual engineering licenses in the US have kind of solved this. There’s the easy exam that pretty much everyone passes eh e they get their degree (the FE), and then there’s the hard one that not even everyone attempts after a couple years of experience (the PE). And within each level, you specify your discipline (civil, mechanical, etc) and then are required to have deeper knowledge of several subfields within that discipline.
- tracker1 2y ago
  Difficult to apply a lot of that, when in reality there are nearly infinite combinations of domain knowledge, software knowledge, architecture knowledge with languages and platforms. Some requiring more or less depth than others. Software is a craft discipline... it would be better organized as a guild with reputation at stake in concert with endorsements. But then you risk what is effectively nepotism and politics.
  - parpfish 2y ago
    you don't think other engineering disciplines have countless sub-areas of expertise?
    - tracker1 2y ago
      I don't think other areas of engineering see the tooling options double every other year.
      - pseudalopex 2y ago
        The sort of interview being discussed doesn't test knowledge of the latest tooling.
teeray 2y ago
> I imagine it would be something easy that admits tons of mediocre devs Given that Medical boards and the Bar strike fear into the hearts of students and demand immense preparation, I think we could do pretty well. The test prep mentality isn’t altogether different from the “grinding leetcode” that happens today anyway. The difference is that it would at least be fair.

parpfish 2y ago

Actual engineering licenses in the US have kind of solved this. There’s the easy exam that pretty much everyone passes eh e they get their degree (the FE), and then there’s the hard one that not even everyone attempts after a couple years of experience (the PE). And within each level, you specify your discipline (civil, mechanical, etc) and then are required to have deeper knowledge of several subfields within that discipline.

tracker1 2y ago
Difficult to apply a lot of that, when in reality there are nearly infinite combinations of domain knowledge, software knowledge, architecture knowledge with languages and platforms. Some requiring more or less depth than others. Software is a craft discipline... it would be better organized as a guild with reputation at stake in concert with endorsements. But then you risk what is effectively nepotism and politics.
- parpfish 2y ago
  you don't think other engineering disciplines have countless sub-areas of expertise?
  - tracker1 2y ago
    I don't think other areas of engineering see the tooling options double every other year.
    - pseudalopex 2y ago
      The sort of interview being discussed doesn't test knowledge of the latest tooling.

teeray 2y ago

> I imagine it would be something easy that admits tons of mediocre devs Given that Medical boards and the Bar strike fear into the hearts of students and demand immense preparation, I think we could do pretty well. The test prep mentality isn’t altogether different from the “grinding leetcode” that happens today anyway. The difference is that it would at least be fair.