If you do software development work, your job title almost certainly is some variation of \u201csoftware engineer\u201d. It\u2019s a ubiquitous way of describing a developer role. So much so that it hard to see how it could be controversial but it is. In many jurisdictions, the term \u201cEngineer\u201d is reserved for licensed individuals who have undergone extensive testing and what amounts to an apprenticeship. Some jurisdiction use the term \u201cProfessional Engineer\u201d for this but it\u2019s common for the law to simply specify \u201cEngineer\u201d.<\/p>\n
All that notwithstanding, most jurisdictions have accepted reality and ignore the software engineer term. Most exceptions are for politically motivated gotcha reasons such as the infamous story of the Oregon community that charged a man with practising engineering without a license<\/a> after he criticized the traffic light system.<\/p>\n Alberta, Canada, however, is insisting on the prohibition and is suing a company for using the term software engineer as a title for its workers and in its job postings<\/a>. This sort of silliness is not new. Edsger Dijkstra has an amusing story<\/a> about applying for his marriage license in the Netherlands in 1957 and being required to list his occupation. The authorities refused to accept \u201cprogrammer\u201d on the grounds that there was no such profession.<\/p>\n It\u2019s time for Alberta to accept common usage\u2014much like we\u2019ve had to swallow the popular misuse of the word \u201chacker\u201d. No one is going to be confused by the term software engineer anymore than they would likely think a \u201csandwich engineer\u201d is professionally trained and licensed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you do software development work, your job title almost certainly is some variation of \u201csoftware engineer\u201d. It\u2019s a ubiquitous way of describing a developer role. So much so that it hard to see how it could be controversial but … Continue reading