Post #4027000
2026-07-22 16:52 UTC
@vnikolov@ieji.de
Software development is not “engineering”, because software work is “mathematical” at its best, “art” ordinarily, and “nail-hammering” at its worst.
I wrote about “engineering v art” in this article: https://amenzwa.github.io/stem/CS/Curriculum/.
Back in the late 1980s, when IT started to grow too if for its britches, there was a push towards public “licensure” in various sectors of these industry, especially in more engineering-centric parts. But that initiative got quashed very quickly and very harshly by the whole industry. Instead, they went with private “certification” model.
Replies (1)
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@vnikolov@ieji.de 2026-07-22 17:09
@AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz Thank you for pointing out the industry certification model. (Not that I think it works sufficiently well.) I have an intuitive feeling (without any proof or betting odds) that we are approaching a significant change in this area and that what is being sold or marketed as AI might hurry it up. I do believe that software development is a kind of engineering (or will be when it grows up), but regrettably I can't embark on a discussion today or tomorrow, important though the matter is. Regrettably, I have to leave reading your article for another time, too.