[baz00]

I'm sure I'll get downvoted for this one, but can we stop using the word engineer in the commercial software and startup sector entirely. It's mostly hacking, fucked up things that make you cry, turds smeared all over stuff, religious factions fighting over faith (marketing) arguments and embarrassing catwalk fashion show bullshit. None of that is engineering.

I'm only here because for some insane fucked up reason, the money is at least 4x better than electrical engineering was and I really like lots of money and will quite happily sell my soul to the machine above for it.

[dbalatero]

I agree computer engineering is some of the least rigorous, but you're probably ultimately yelling at clouds here.

[patrick451]

Yeah software engineering has even less rigor than the social sciences. The field is filled with cargo culted best practices which are supported by zero hard evidence. Software "engineering" is really closer to primitive superstition than science.

But what I take even more issue with is the conflation of "engineer" to be not just a software developer, but a web developer. E.g., this says you should understand how CSS and DOM work under the hood. But there are lots software domains where this knowledge is completely useless.

[killdozer]

If you can make a plan to solve a technical problem and execute on it in a successful way you're an engineer. There may be differing levels of expertise and "rigor" but we should be more generous with the title if anything. There are a lot of extremely talented "non-technical" people out there building wild solutions with excel/zapier/etc... that deliver value and contain a ton of technical complexity but are very hacky and brittle, but at the end of the day it's still engineering.

[proc0]

It's just a label at this point, and it really means technical product owner. I'd be ok with an engineering license, because maybe then it would be clear what kind of tasks engineers should be engaging in.

[MrBuddyCasino]

What word do you propose we use instead? I feel like HR won’t feel too happy about advertising job openings for a „senior turd wrangler“.

[baz00]

Hey I'm a Principal Turd Wrangler. That's a very very accurate job title for me.