[imiric]

A PE license isn't just for certifying a minimum level of technical competence. It also requires aligning with a specific code of ethics, to ensure safety and wellbeing of the public.

If there's anything that the software industry needs most is a code of ethics. Companies are built on software that exploits, tricks and deceives their users. They release borderline malware and get rich doing it, either by having complicit investors or fooling them with false valuations. They cover their asses with dishonest PR, and lobby governments to keep the party going. This happens in the largest tech giants and tiny startups alike. And don't get me started on the gaming industry and their predatory practices.

We often exculpate engineers as being cogs in the machine, but they're ultimately choosing to work in these places, and enable this behavior.

The world would be a much better place if software engineers were required to take and uphold the equivalent of the Hippocratic Oath. We don't expect less from health professionals. Why should we from IT ones when the world is run by software?

[paulddraper]

Software engineering has as much a code of ethics as mechanical engineering.

Maybe there's improvement to be had, but this is not a difference between disciplines.

[imiric]

Huh? Please show me a code of ethics taught in software engineering courses.

If one exists, I would like to see your argument that SWEs are adhering to it, and that the software industry is behaving ethically.