Hacker News Reader

Comment by j_m_b | Hacker News Reader

I think "Software Engineer" is just a title given by a place of employment. However, for those who genuinely believe themselves "Software Engineers" I would ask: What was the outside institute that certified your software engineering program? What professional exams did you take in order to be licensed as a software engineer?

View on HN

Speaking for Germany, an engineer will simply have a university degree. There is no additional exam. Similarly, most software developers will also have a university degree.

The term is actually regulated by law and it depends on the country and sometimes on the state. In Bavaria, for example, in order to call yourself a software engineer (or, for that matter, any kind of engineer), you need to have studied a STE(M) subject for at least three years, at a university or similar [0].

[0] http://www.gesetze-bayern.de/jportal/portal/page/bsbayprod.p...

Sorry, I meant to say software architect.

That's a great point, and one of the reasons I was originally taught it isn't "engineering", strictly. I think we do a lot of what counts as engineering. But, you're right, we aren't formally certified as an engineer. Perhaps that (and the required rigour) will change.

It depends you can jump trough the hoops to get Ceng status but the one of the problems is the BCS/IEEE keep changing the goal posts for those going the industry experience route

The other bigger elephant is what in it for me what have the BCS / IEEE actually done anything to improve the status of engineers.

In the UK Jeremy Clarkson's 1 hour documentary on Brunel has probably done more for the profile of engineers than the IEEE has done in the last 25 years.

I hear those siege engineers during the Napoleonic Wars didn't have any certified licenses either. The gall of some people.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com