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Comment by stavros | Hacker News Reader

> This is a prime example of why programmers are not seriously considered engineers.

I'm a programmer working in healthcare. If I ignore a safety issue anyone discovered, people die and we go to prison. Am I an engineer now?

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I used to be a sysadmin at hospitals. There is software in everything like biomed devices, imaging machines and even the humble email system that I maintained.

Other examples of critical software systems include banking and voting.

I have never _ever_ called myself an engineer even when I was encouraged to.

It is foolish to leave this field unregulated.

Medical device software is very strictly regulated.

Yes, of course you are correct. I should have been more specific in my response. I can print("Hello World") and I am not an engineer. I have a BS in accounting but am not a CPA, and that is also highly regulated.

The point I am trying to make is that we are building a society on software that has no legally binding standards but has serious impacts to all of us.

"engineering - the application of scientific and mathematical principles to practical ends such as the design, manufacture, and operation of efficient and economical structures, machines, processes, and systems"

agentically vibe coding a website with some minor manual tweaks? adding bullshit to a product for the pure purpose of profit maximization at the detriment of the end user? moving fast, testing user engagement instead of user safety, and being okay with breaking things? .... not engineering !

following an agreed set of processes to formally maximise product safety & consistency eg. adhering to medical device standards for software development? .... engineering!

Closer to an engineer than the hacks described above.

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