[throwawaygh]

> As a lawyer there are rules that define standards of behaviors and violation thereof can quickly terminate not just employment but the career forever. Software doesn’t have that and the entire idea is utterly foreign.

This is mostly a function of the industry's age, and is not true of other fields of engineering. I'll be astounded if software isn't folded into Professional Engineering by mid-century.

[austincheney]

That seems highly optimistic. Most software developers are vehemently opposed to the professionalization of their industry.

[throwawaygh]

Of course they are. Most software developers wouldn't pass a PE exam. Professionalization of software engineering won't be done from the ground up. It will be imposed form the top down.