three suited men in my coffeeshop. one of them just said, "my personal idea of progress is moving things forward," which is actually just the definition. everyone's nodding. guys like this are in charge of every industry and it's clearly why trains explode
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[–] 8 points 7 months ago (6 children)

Those are software people. I wouldn't really consider them engineers in the sense being discussed here. Lots of software people are ready to rewrite the entire code base in a refactor bcz they think they can decouple a few systems in a better way, all the while introducing bugs while they do it. I dont know a lot of engineers willing to do that. It's not zero, I do know a few, but it's a lot less.

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  • [–] 13 points 7 months ago (5 children)

    There’s no professional organization that all software engineers belong to, the way we have with civil engineers. This leads to a ton of ambiguity about who is a true engineer and who are software people, as you call them. This is an issue even among people who know how to write their own software.

    So then should we really be surprised that non-technical MBAs can’t tell the difference between true engineers and software people?

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 child)

    This isn't a no true scottsman thing. An engineer is someone who also does engineering work in addition and not just software. It can be anything from structural stuff like FEA simulation, fluid dynamics, to manufacturing. That's the distinction, that's it.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago*

    How does that pertain to the above issue of businesses and MBAs and software which was nothing to do with physical engineering work? Like if you’re saying only people who understand fluid dynamics know how to build business software and the people who engage in passion project rewrites on Linux software don’t, then what? I have no idea what you’re really arguing here.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (2 children)

    So then should we really be surprised that non-technical MBAs can’t tell the difference between true engineers and software people?

    You made a statement about engineers vs software people.

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