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| Why do "programmers" call themselves... "engineers"?! |
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| eti:
Newsflash! I've just found out that I am a solicitor, and didn't even know so, by virtue of having read the Microsoft Windows EULA, and finding errors in it, and proposing to myself how to fix them. I billed myself £60 per hour for having read & analysed it, which I duly paid myself, and then went to make a cuppa coffee. |
| SiliconWizard:
--- Quote from: eti on November 17, 2019, 02:52:27 am ---Newsflash! I've just found out that I am a solicitor, and didn't even know so, by virtue of having read the Microsoft Windows EULA, and finding errors in it, and proposing to myself how to fix them. I billed myself £60 per hour for having read & analysed it, which I duly paid myself, and then went to make a cuppa coffee. --- End quote --- ;D |
| eti:
--- Quote from: SiliconWizard on November 17, 2019, 03:21:20 am --- --- Quote from: eti on November 17, 2019, 02:52:27 am ---Newsflash! I've just found out that I am a solicitor, and didn't even know so, by virtue of having read the Microsoft Windows EULA, and finding errors in it, and proposing to myself how to fix them. I billed myself £60 per hour for having read & analysed it, which I duly paid myself, and then went to make a cuppa coffee. --- End quote --- ;D --- End quote --- Tomorrow, I am going to apply for a position as a "programmer", since I know how to C# templates into "Visual Studio", even if I don't know what they do - will they accept me? I also certified myself as a plumber, since I now know how to turn on a tap. |
| jadew:
--- Quote from: eti on November 16, 2019, 04:26:30 am ---Let me ask this: > Why do "programmers" get referred to as "coders" in many instances? (that's like calling a poet, a "pen mover" - it very much undermines their profession, and reduces them to the lowest common denominator... I think... I can't articulate what I mean) > Why do "programmers" refer to themselves as that, when in many cases they have ZERO knowledge of the hardware which is abstracted away from them, 5 layers down at bare metal level, and ALL they know how to do is drag and drop boilerplate templates which call APIs...? > THE most irksome of all, is the sheer delusion that seems to have swept across Silicon Valley & slowly become accepted, is that "programmers" are... ENGINEERS! :-// Please read these articles; the former is well written, and also the latter, but I tend to lean toward the wording of the former, more, not sure why. Bottom line, as I see it, is this: ++ You can't grab a block of binary, sand the rust off it, throw it in a lathe and machine it into a part. ++ You can't expect to call yourself an "engineer" when the fundamental concepts (text) with which you fiddle, all day long, can be (and IS) changed on the whim of some "framework" manager, overnight. Imagine if the mass of a block of lead could be arbitrarily edited to some variable, in a second. Imagine if constants and measurements in physics could be changed to fit some formula, "just because". I am not annoyed, nor even slightly angered, or in any way fazed by the term "engineer" used to refer to code monkeys, but many others may be, and to be frank, I find it a laughably naive term to use, based on the fact that people hearing you say "I am an engineer" when what you do is fiddle with lines of text, laughable and quite insane. Yes, I know software CONTROLS things in the physical realm which are engineered, but that doesn't make the software author an engineer. Ever. Here's the articles: > https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/11/programmers-should-not-call-themselves-engineers/414271/ > http://nic.ferrier.me.uk/blog/2013_04/you-are-not-an-engineer --- End quote --- That's a lot of butthurt... Leaving aside the discussion about how the term "engineer" is largely meaningless anyway when it comes to communicating your ability to do something, why do you care about the nomenclature used in a different field of work? What kind of turf are you trying to protect? Also, it would help if you defined "engineering". |
| eti:
--- Quote from: jadew on November 17, 2019, 04:36:01 am --- --- Quote from: eti on November 16, 2019, 04:26:30 am ---Let me ask this: > Why do "programmers" get referred to as "coders" in many instances? (that's like calling a poet, a "pen mover" - it very much undermines their profession, and reduces them to the lowest common denominator... I think... I can't articulate what I mean) > Why do "programmers" refer to themselves as that, when in many cases they have ZERO knowledge of the hardware which is abstracted away from them, 5 layers down at bare metal level, and ALL they know how to do is drag and drop boilerplate templates which call APIs...? > THE most irksome of all, is the sheer delusion that seems to have swept across Silicon Valley & slowly become accepted, is that "programmers" are... ENGINEERS! :-// Please read these articles; the former is well written, and also the latter, but I tend to lean toward the wording of the former, more, not sure why. Bottom line, as I see it, is this: ++ You can't grab a block of binary, sand the rust off it, throw it in a lathe and machine it into a part. ++ You can't expect to call yourself an "engineer" when the fundamental concepts (text) with which you fiddle, all day long, can be (and IS) changed on the whim of some "framework" manager, overnight. Imagine if the mass of a block of lead could be arbitrarily edited to some variable, in a second. Imagine if constants and measurements in physics could be changed to fit some formula, "just because". I am not annoyed, nor even slightly angered, or in any way fazed by the term "engineer" used to refer to code monkeys, but many others may be, and to be frank, I find it a laughably naive term to use, based on the fact that people hearing you say "I am an engineer" when what you do is fiddle with lines of text, laughable and quite insane. Yes, I know software CONTROLS things in the physical realm which are engineered, but that doesn't make the software author an engineer. Ever. Here's the articles: > https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/11/programmers-should-not-call-themselves-engineers/414271/ > http://nic.ferrier.me.uk/blog/2013_04/you-are-not-an-engineer --- End quote --- That's a lot of butthurt... Leaving aside the discussion about how the term "engineer" is largely meaningless anyway when it comes to communicating your ability to do something, why do you care about the nomenclature used in a different field of work? What kind of turf are you trying to protect? Also, it would help if you defined "engineering". --- End quote --- I tend not to want to engage people who use daft "internet slang", especially in a passive-aggressive tone. Please be respectful and mature, thanks. |
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