Are programmers engineers? (2003)

http://www.ericsink.com/Are_Programmers_Engineers.html

by ktran03 • 12 years ago

2 2 12 years ago

CatheryneN• 12 years ago

This made me chuckle because I tease the devs I work with about this all the time: I call them artists. It's the BA vs BS. Devs have the freedom to be much more creative than engineers. I think of devs in a similar way to architects - as in a design a building kind. Btw, I am a licensed engineers. =)

mercer• 12 years ago

Interesting. However, this particular one stood out to me:

Engineering is real. Programming is abstract

I suppose it all depends on the definition of 'programmer', and the kind of programming you do, as well as how you define abstract and real, but when I explain what I do to designers or craftsmen of various sorts, I often use engineering as an analogy.

What I do is to translate specifications and graphic designs and UX mockups (analogous to an architect?) to something that, while technically virtual, is very 'real' in that it needs to work. The biggest part of my work is to produce something functional while maintaining as much of the (often unrealistic) design, or fixing bugs that arise.

And in the same way that a big engineering project can go over budget because of 'bugs', unrealistic design, or unexpected difficulties, I'm usually the part of the process that is hardest to predict and goes over budget.

That said, this article made me consider the differences. Very interesting.

Are programmers engineers? (2003)

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