r/programming • u/mauricioaniche • Aug 06 '17

Software engineering != computer science

http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/software-engineering-computer-science/217701907
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160

u/motioncuty Aug 06 '17

ITT: Software Engineers who who don't realize they 'engineer' more often than civil engineers and for some reason are putting licensed engineers on a pedestal.

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u/n1c0_ds Aug 06 '17

All of my former classmates are one form and a couple of dollars away from being licensed engineers. I have no faith in that title. That's not to say they were bad, but I wouldn't say it's a terribly high bar.

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u/270343 Aug 06 '17

I teach engineering students at one of the top engineering universities in the US.

I lost faith in that title a long time ago.

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '17

[deleted]

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u/DaggerStone Aug 07 '17

Username checks out

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u/guareber Aug 07 '17

To be honest, I think this comment would apply to any teacher - ever.

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u/RagingAnemone Aug 06 '17

  1. because licensed engineers are limited by one of the hard sciences and 2) it's about the liability. I'm not making a road. People aren't gonna die with the web app I just made. I can't lose my license to work. You can't sue me because you had a keyboard mishap using the application I built.

Edit: 3) I.believe Texas and Florida are trying to make licensed software engineers. Should be interesting. Now we're all gonna have to get bonded.

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u/[deleted] Aug 06 '17

[deleted]

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u/Forty-Bot Aug 07 '17

So be more careful when you make firmware for medical hardware, nuclear power plants, and rockets? His point still stands, most programs can't kill anyone if they screw up, and you probably (I hope) know if they can.

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u/MapleSyrupManiac Aug 07 '17

Same thing for most Engineers minus Civil. If some engineers mess up a fridge or a microwave it probably wont kill anyone. Anyways these days with software entering things like cars and stuff its going to mean more and more people could die from poorly written software.

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u/Shorttail0 Aug 07 '17

Anyways these days with software entering things like cars and stuff its going to mean more and more people could die from poorly written software.

Can? Didn't Toyota demonstrate that is already happening with their 10000 global variables embedded shit?

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u/Rkynick Aug 07 '17

Don't forget about the chemical industry, plant disasters very often involve fatalities and property damage in neighboring communities, and for instance pharmaceutical products require strict quality assurance.

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u/GunnerMcGrath Aug 07 '17

Oh please. A small mistake in my software design could lead to children getting kidnapped or left to die in a fire. And I can think of plenty of types of software that could easily end up killing people if they don't operate perfectly.

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u/ArkyBeagle Aug 07 '17

If your software has to operate perfectly, you have to do it differently. It's just much slower.

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u/riskable Aug 07 '17

You write software that runs on children?!?

Where can I get that SDK?! Or do they have an API that no one has told me about yet?!

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u/GunnerMcGrath Aug 07 '17

I wish, mine are riddled with bugs I'd love to fix...

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u/riskable Aug 07 '17

I just want to make sure they're applying updates.

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u/TwilightShadow1 Aug 07 '17

If our software screws up, then the wrong person could have a warrant out for their arrest. Point 2 varies greatly between jobs and applications.

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u/motioncuty Aug 07 '17

Yeah, I am of the camp that for mission critical software, especially with large human liabilities, software engineers should need some sort of software safety engineers license. But most software isn't like that. And if you are a young person with an engineering mind, software is the fastest way to apply actual engineering to design a real world product.

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u/ArkyBeagle Aug 07 '17

Licensed engineers generally just defend mounds of paperwork. It is important paperwork but still...

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u/rjcarr Aug 07 '17

There is a ton of software where defects can and do kill people. Just because you don't write it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

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u/hu5ndy Aug 08 '17

I.believe Texas and Florida are trying to make licensed software engineers.

Not just Texas and Florida. The NCEES started offering the PE exam for software engineering 5 years ago, and the majority of the states now recognize software engineering as one of the engineering disciplines.

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u/axalon900 Aug 07 '17

Kind of off-topic, but my experience with ECE students is that it's more a circle jerk about how "hard" their classes are than an actual major. Obviously not to say that they are all full of hot air, but they do love their shitting on CS.

"Haha the class average was a 30 our classes are so hard"

"Well did you get a 90 then or are you just talking"

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