Around the world, over the years...

I would like to make it clear that my intentions are to advocate software engineering through this blog. Having worked for about 3 years under the title of 'Software Engineer', I realized that it is a little more than just programming. However what I did was mostly programming. On the other hand, I have been working since 5 months using the title "Web Programmer" while most of what I was doing should be considered software engineering. I have been involved in planning, requirements elicitation, process engineering, architecture, data migration, database design, user interface design, and also programming (in a language I had very little prior experience in: remember learnability!). I smirk at the irony.

Around the world, over the years...

It has been over two months since my last update. Yeah, I know that I say that every time I post something new. This time, I decided that I would rest it out and see what other bloggers have to say about software engineering. (I despise using the word 'blogosphere', a quick xkcd comic for that: http://xkcd.com/428/)

To begin, I read a blog post by Matthew W. Johnson titled "Engineering Icons, not Programming": http://imagine.kicbak.com/blog/?p=193 . I found that he made the same points as I made when I started this blog. Matthew begins to compare software engineering to civil engineering and brings in a bridge analogy. This made me question that who would make a better software engineer: A computer scientist or an engineer in another field? Understanding the facts that a regular engineer will be familiar with the general concepts of engineering and would apply them to his or her field while a computer scientist will be an expert in understanding computers and software programs. In fact, I have met a few people with no formal programming background become better software engineers than those who do. This might be a question for debate.

Another article which I found interesting was by Steve McConnell (author of various textbooks on software development and its aspects) written way back in 2004. http://www.stevemcconnell.com/psd/04-senotcs.htm . This was particularly interesting to me because McConnell would ask candidates questions related to software engineering during recruitment. He further goes on to explain how software engineering should evolve out of just plain development. To add to that, there are other project objectives that should be met. 

I would like to find counter arguments to software engineering which may bring about a healthy discussion. However, till then, I will try to update about more of the nuances of software engineering.

Cheers!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time

Sutherland, Jeff, & Sutherland, J. J. (2014).  Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time . New York, NY: Crown Publishing Group. https://www.scruminc.com/new-scrum-the-book/ Introduction  The author, Jeff Sutherland, along with Ken Schwaber conceived Scrum as a method of improving productivity in software development teams in the early 90s. Coming from the horse's mouth, one gets an insight into the history behind Scrum and how the author evolved the process with every project he worked on or consulted for. One also gets to view the process through Sutherland's eyes as he applies that to every project. He provides ample anecdotes to supplement his arguments towards using Scrum as the process of choice not just in software development but also in other engineering as well as non-engineering domains. That said, it also brings about a bit of a confirmation bias of Sutherland regarding the efficacy of Scrum. Through the reading of the book, one desires
Read more

Software Architecture Patterns: MVC

Image
Long since I have updated here, I went through a number of experiences to land up in developing within the Android platform. Being pushed out of my comfort zone of server-side and database development, it is a fresh adventure by itself in developing mobile applications. Away from my usual rants about software engineering, I would like to be a bit more specific about a topic. Software architecture can be defined in a number of ways. The software engineering institute has compiled the modern as well as the classical definitions of software architecture. http://www.sei.cmu.edu/architecture/start/glossary/moderndefs.cfm http://www.sei.cmu.edu/architecture/start/glossary/classicdefs.cfm To be concise, software architecture is a set of models which define the highest level of system abstraction. This may begin with understanding the qualities of the required system and the tactics that enable those qualities. The summed up architecture document will consist of static views such
Read more

Learn to adapt and adapt to learn

Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative. -H G Wells I have been away for a while: had a lot of coursework to complete and I am finally out of it unscathed. Hi everyone, welcome back. As usual, I will begin my rants with the disconnect between the job market and the definition of a software engineer. Recently, I received a call from a company (which I do not recall applying to) asking me "In which technology are you a software engineer?" It is the same as asking an automobile engineer, "In which type of vehicle engine are you an automobile engineer?" Specialization, you say? Not really. Although automobile engines do not evolve as fast as programming languages, an engineer must be ready for all. (S)he is the one who should make the decision regarding which is most suitable. It basically undermines the factor of learnability within the engineer. Is it not possible that an engineer learn about a new technology and imp
Read more