From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 109fba,1042f393323e22da X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,1042f393323e22da X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 1014db,1042f393323e22da X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public From: kaz@vision.crest.nt.com (Kaz Kylheku) Subject: Re: Software Engineering is not a hoax... (was Re: Any research putting c above ada?) Date: 1997/05/23 Message-ID: <5m4idq$oc4@bcrkh13.bnr.ca>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 243380520 References: <33859489.7FB8@spam.innocon.com> <3385B67B.1439@msim.co.uk.spamstop> Organization: Prism Systems Inc. Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.ada Date: 1997-05-23T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article <3385B67B.1439@msim.co.uk.spamstop>, William M.Gordon wrote: >> I would go as far as saying that ``software engineering'' is a hoax. > > >I'm what I consider to be a software engineer and I only spend about >10-15% of my time writing software. The rest of it is to do with >documentation, design, version control, project management, bug reports, >etc etc. At home though I'm a programmer! Hoax is the wrong word, and I must apologize for it. It's rather ``oxymoron'', not unlike ``computer science''. There are those who feel that their software development development position doesn't carry the enough prestige, so they prefer to be called software engineers. It's no different from ``sanitary engineer'', ``certified Novell engineer'' etc. It's a facetious title. I much prefer terms like software developer, software designer: at least these convey what the job is about. I recognize that I don't have a degree in any sort of engineering and certainly don't belong to an association of professional engineers, hence have no claim to a ``P. Eng'' title. If I wanted that, I would have studied engineering and joined the local association, and obtained that iron ring. Real engineers _build_ a product, they don't _write_ it. The end products of real engineering can't be transmitted over data networks nor duplicated ad nauseum onto magnetic media. This realization doesn't make me uncomfortable. I accept the inherent validity and legitimacy of what I do.