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Programmers: Stop Calling Yourselves Engineers (www.theatlantic.com)

submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Old, but fun read that argues that today's programmers are not like typical Engineers and shouldn't really call themselves that as Engineering requires certification, is subject to government regulation, bear a burden to the public, etc.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 3 days ago (2 children)

There is a huge difference between a "programmer" who just codes, and a software engineer, who studied computer science and learned the skills for problem solving as an engineer. The latter is protected in many countries.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Yeah, and at least in my country, there are mandatory courses common with all technical (not sure how that should be translated properly to English) engineers, such as extensive physics, maths, electricity and such, that us software engineer students also have to pass along with our specialization to even get to the thesis part of the engineering degree.

After all this, I’ll have no trouble calling myself an engineer. Neither does the university I go to. Nor anyone, really.

Without the degree, sure. I’d be ashamed, even, to claim such a title. But that’s just because the whole engineer degree is well established and has a set meaning. I’d be software developer, as I am now, instead of the software engineer I aspire to be.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I may be self-taught, but I love the field of programming computers and have studied it in my own free time. I happily call myself an engineer if the 99% of engineers coming out of uni and entering the job market can be called one.