Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!know!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!njin!princeton!pucc!EGNILGES From: EGNILGES@pucc.Princeton.EDU (Ed Nilges) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Re: some advice to a software engineer Message-ID: <11753@pucc.Princeton.EDU> Date: 24 Sep 90 15:38:05 GMT References: <126@ctbilbo.UUCP> <27100@bellcore.bellcore.com> Reply-To: EGNILGES@pucc.Princeton.EDU Organization: Princeton University, NJ Lines: 69 Disclaimer: Author bears full responsibility for contents of this article In article <27100@bellcore.bellcore.com>, duncan@dduck.ctt.bellcore.com (Scott Duncan) writes: >In article <126@ctbilbo.UUCP> ray@ctbilbo.UUCP (Ray Ward) writes: >> > >>We are unable to prevail in controversies over quality because we >>are economically vulnerable, as well. Again, as part of the organization, >>we have but a single source of income. Doctors/lawyers have many One way of reducing that vulnerability is to do outside consulting on a freelance basis. Unfortunately, this is not possible in many companies: either the workload is so great as to exhaust the software engineer in the performance of his full time job, or there are rules against moonlighting. Also, tax "simplification" (aka "let's screw the unorganized, viz., DP consultants, graduate students, and single parents") has made this somewhat less financially rewarding. But it's still possible when you work for a university. My own employer explicitly recognizes the need to limited outside consulting, both to stay technically current and to supplement a lower salary. > >>Granted, there are disadvantages to "certification" and the requirements >>of "professionalizing" our esoteric art and craft. But I would assert >>that they are outweighed by the advantages. Indeed, as society becomes >>increasingly complex and controlled by computers, there will be ever >>more incidents of software failures; this will cause increasing pressure >>for regulation and certification. One possibility that should frighten us as software people into getting together on this is that of malpractice suits. It's also an informal, on-the-job defense when a manager asks you to bollox up a project in the name of getting it done by a particular date: "I'd love to use a bubble sort in the tight loop of this here patient monitor system, but I personally don't want to get sued when the patient dies while my code is cheerfully swapping records hither and yon." > >One of the negative aspects of regulation and certification is what it does to >make the profession more self-serving in some cases. Since you used the legal Yes, the legal and the medical professions have been self-serving. As a new "profession" we would like to keep our innocence with regards to the sins of these professions, keeping in mind that professions have been described as to some extent "conspiracies against the public." Unions, also, have their sins. But Studs Terkel (no Authority, to be sure: just a Chicago radio guy who's popped off a couple of books) has pointed out that in our society we tend to decry vested interests of all sorts with one rather glaring exception. When corporate managements speak, whether about "productivity" (with or without a negative sign) or a "drug-free workplace" (as if the workplace hasn't been awash in alcohol for 150 years), we jump. "Vested interests" are inevitable in a society based on an adversary legal system. >profession as an example, let me point out that I think there is a great deal >involved in the law that exists for the lawyers and judges and not for any >clients. It is by no means clear to me that the law has to be so esoteric that >we are required (often by other law) to get lawyers to tell us what other law- >yers have done because the lawyers (as legislators) have fashioned laws that >say you must do so. But a good lawyer, like the lawyer portrayed by Danny DeVito in WARS OF THE ROSES, will first do his best to discourage litigation (DeVito tells the story of the Roses in order to discourage a divorce suit). Similarly, a programmer with ethics and integrity will ask his client if, after all, there isn't a package that can do his job for him. If you don't have ethics and integrity, or if you have a secret belief in the nonexistence of true integrity (if you believe that "every man has his price") then best start a trade association, not a profession. And don't expect me to respect you as a professional.