It undermines a long tradition of designing and building infrastructure in the public interest.

Old, but fun read that argues that today’s programmers are not like typical Engineers and shouldn’t really call themselves that as Engineering requires certification, is subject to government regulation, bear a burden to the public, etc.

  • @drd@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
    18•6 months ago

    I mean you can’t go to the store purchase a stethoscope and call yourself a doctor. Similarly, programmers do not require any sort of certifications or are heavily regulated unlike engineers. It’s an interesting argument for sure.

    • @jonathan@lemmy.zipEnglish
      6•6 months ago

      The protected title for Medical Doctors is Doctor of Medicine. I can get a PHd in Software Engineering and call myself Doctor.

      • enkersEnglish
        1•6 months ago

        You can, but if some cries out “Help I need a doctor!”, please don’t volunteer yourself. ;)

        • @Womble@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3•6 months ago

          FWIW doctor comes from the latin for “I teach” and has been used by acedemics since the 12th centrury. Its usage meaning physician is a lot more recent.

        • @sean@lemmy.wtfEnglish
          1•6 months ago

          If someone cried out “I need to engineer a web application and work with a whole group of people to bring it about” I happily would though because I’m an engineer even though I don’t have a degree