[lug] software engineering

bgiles at coyotesong.com bgiles at coyotesong.com
Mon Nov 13 14:46:22 MST 2006


I hate that analogy every time I see it.

Doctors, Lawyers, Practicing Engineers, Architects, etc. are all licensed
and have a tremendous amount of autonomy in performing their job.  Put
another way, they can all say "no" and it must be respected.

In contrast, at most we can quit but how practical is that?  If I think
people will die, I quit.  But if I know the software will crash but will
only annoy the user?....

So using that analogy, we aren't the doctors or lawyers.  We aren't the
registered nurses.  We're the pharamist aides and paralegals and road
crew.  People with valuable skills, but not 'professionals' in any legal
sense.

> Doctors, Lawyers, other Engineering disciplines, Architects, they all
> have HUGE levels of PERSONAL liability (and motivation!) on the things
> they work on.  Somehow Software "engineering" has managed to not have
> that.  You don't see many software engineers contemplating taking out
> personal liability insurance to cover them in case their employer
> subrogates against them.





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