Ask HN: How do you view software engineering?

My analogy is that we are designing bowling alleys. Setting up pins and creating the lanes with the hopes that people will bowl correctly. When a beginner comes along we inflate the bumpers to help them down the lane.

Up until today this has been my understanding. But now, after releasing a specific feature to production, I realize the "beginners" aren't toddlers that need a little help getting the ball down the lane... they are actually 900lb gorillas walking in to my bowling alley, finding the stash of 22 pound bowling balls, facing with their back to the pins, and launching them wildly like the first pitch at the world series.

What's your analogy to software engineering?