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Comment by ozim | Hacker News Reader

Isn't real?

You write about people who sling PHP or Javascript spaghetti?

I have engineering degree in computer science (I think it is mostly thing in eastern Europe, you have bunch of electronics, math, computer architecture to learn), I worked on automotive software which is I have to say fairly regulated. Where you have to care for things like ISO or MISRA standards in your code.

I don't mind people calling themselves "software engineer" even if they whip up front-end - but I do mind if someone calls "software engineering isn't real".

;)

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In some jurisdictions, Professional Engineer (P.E.) is a protected title just like Doctor of Medicine (M.D.). You are licensed and can be sued for malpractice and lose your license to practice.

Within a lot of projects, before starting to code, quite some engineering needs to be done. Engineering is making first models that mock reality, trying them, refining them, making them more performant and so on. To me the title 'software engineer' summerize these skills nicely.

> Isn't real?

> I have engineering degree in computer science

For the record, I also have bad news about our shared degree's use of the word "science".

Changing a bunch of bits on a magnetic drive or another media is not like building an airplane that flies or a car that runs! Software engineering is closer to a priest that supposedly can communicate to god than it is to someone that builds a car!

I have a CS degree too and people without it are sometimes much better than me at slinging code

Actually forget people, you should realize how far this is from engineering when ChatGPT can do it better than me :) Ask ChatGPT to build a car though and we will see how far it gets.

>on a magnetic drive or another media is not like building an airplane that flies or a car that runs

I ain't sure what century you live in, but it's not the current one...

If I program some bits on my hard drive and now a stepper motor punches thought the side of the mount its bolted too. Or if I say "set the flaps to this pitch in this condition" and that doesn't happen, then something very real, and very bad, happens in the reality we both exist in.

Almost everything complicated that exists today uses electronic control in one way or another. Screwing up the software in that ECU is just as much as of an error as using the wrong metal in its manufacture.

Yeah honestly maybe I am feeling a bit jaded by a career in software development with jira and other bs. It doesnt feel like engineering to me :)

If youre doing anything that physically moves something like a stepper motor i have a lot of respect for that.

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