But honestly, the term “Software Engineer” is a farce at best.
So maybe the author is in the camp that worries too much about meaningless titles.
But honestly, the term “Software Engineer” is a farce at best.
So maybe the author is in the camp that worries too much about meaningless titles.
There are certain things that are very ... softwar-y, and only engineers who know how to handle software well can come up with.
Google's Percolator, the plethora of Apache data crunshing stacks, whole paradigm shifts like Object Storage, virtualization, and so on. Some of these are the equivalent of Burj Khalifa. Not anyone, or any team for that matter, can build them correctly.
Which is why I think the term Software Engineer and the concept of software engineering is very justifiable.
Yes, I think it is a form of engineering, in the sense that it a tangible discipline that produces artifacts that are useful to humans and that require very specific scientific knowledge and a minimum of academic background.
Just my two cents on the matter.
My experience (YMMV) is that all these "Engineers" go out into the world as rookies anyways. I've dealt with rookie Civil Engineers that couldn't understand the blueprints for a two story house and "Computer Engineers" that couldn't code their way out of a React Todo List.
Experience trumps all if you ask me and if we really want to regulate the "Title" then it should be based on experience and achievements vs a paper that says you went to X or Y.
I might be biased because I decided to drop out and go build experience, but I've hired from both sides and I've come to the conclusion that raw talent and experience dictate how much of an "Engineer" you really are.
Hell, the Germans even get mad if someone claims a 'Dr.' title and they haven't completed some post-Ph.D. secondary dissertation thing from a German University.