"We want to be considered real Engineers," cry software people who throw incomprehensible masses of autogenerated code they didn't even try to understand directly into production.
Electricians, plumbers, and builders are subject to more legal liability for the quality and reliability of their work, and it's considered a trade not a profession. When was the last time you had to provide a Certificate of Compliance to a customer for your code?

@daedalus

Did they ever?
#vibecoding doesn't change anything

@n_dimension "let's give running chainsaws to this class of 5-year-olds and see what happens"

@daedalus

Chainsaw is a good analogy, since it's a dangerous power tool that requires no certification whatsoever to use.

So yeah, chainsaws, way better than the axes used before 😁

@daedalus @n_dimension wood chipper. Chainsaws don’t scale like a chipper. Very noisy and 10x as dangerous.
@daedalus I almost wonder if we should treat programming as a trade one can get certs for.
Certificate IV in Information Technology (Programming) ICT40120-06 | TAFE NSW

Develop a range of programming skills, complete practical projects in a simulated workplace environment and stay up to date with emerging trends and technologies. Hone your knowledge for junior roles while preparing for diploma‑level study.

@daedalus Oh shit! Then I think it needs to be a more common thing with the kind of weight of things like an A+ cert
@disorderlyf if developers had to provide something like a Certificate of Software Safety for their work, the entire technology industry would be bankrupted by lawsuits overnight.
@daedalus "Sorry, mate… I can't sign off on this, you're using spaces instead of tabs for indentation!"
Delve - Fake Compliance as a Service - Part I

How Delve managed to falsely convince hundreds of customers they were compliant and then lied about it when exposed and called out

DeepDelver
@xssfox the secret ingredient… is fraud
@daedalus if you can't be sued or thrown in jail for fucking up, it's not real engineering
newpipe baby (@[email protected])

hello my name is joe software engineer i make 200 thousand billion dollars i cant write computer program if it doesn't look like a cocomelon video while i type into it

types.pl
@daedalus AI code generation = Move Fast and Break Things as a Service
@daedalus I was thinking just this morning that we now have the answer to the "are we engineers" debate
@fsvo @daedalus A: We Are Devo!
@ThermiteBeGiants @daedalus cognitive decline is real
@fsvo @daedalus 🎶 God made Man, but the monkey supplied the glue 🎶
@daedalus
This is not a codebase of honour.
The codebase is dangerous in your time, as it was in ours.
This message is part of a system of messages. Pay attention to it!
We considered ourselves to be real engineers.

@daedalus Not originally mine, but:

"We have a revolutionarily innovative idea that will change the world!"

"Is it actually innovative, or just crimes again?"

"... OK, fine, it's just crimes again"