> But software engineering doesn't have that. I actually wonder if (and subsequently when) software will move in that direction, though. As computers become m

> But software engineering doesn't have that. I actually wonder if (and subsequently when) software will move in that direction, though. As computers become more and more involved in systems where loss of life is extremely possible (e.g. driverless cars), I wonder if there will be a big push to have PE-equivalents sign off on software architectures, etc. I especially wonder if there will be a big push to do this in the near future simply for liability reasons ("well Jane Smith is the PE we contracted with and she signed off on the software architecture that didn't account for rain, so go sue HER."). Not that computer errors haven't already cost lives to-date, but as software starts truly running everything we'll likely see a lot of grumbling and response to software errors that cost lives. OTOH, it's worked pretty well without licensing to-date, so perhaps not. I do think regardless we'll see a more evident bifurcation into "developers" (most of us) and "software engineers" (people who work on mission-critical software) in the upcoming decades.