Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!csn!otis!paulo
From: paulo@ohmeda.com (Paul Ourada)
Subject: Re: Accepted Practice #2
Message-ID: <1991Jun11.202235.2726@ohmeda.com>
Keywords: programming, training, craft
Organization: Ohmeda Monitoring Systems
References: <1991Jun10.150953.28255@dec254.uucp>
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 1991 20:22:35 GMT

toolsmit@dec254.uucp (Toolsmith) writes:

>It occurs to me that in other engineering disciplines, the accepted practices
>of the engineer yield a description of a product (design?).  This description
>is then converted into a product by one or more crafts or trades.

>It seems that the crafts and trades also have a means to verify competence
>with their accepted practices, viz. the machinist apprenticeship that leads
>to a journeyman's card.

>Does this imply that coding is really a craft and that a degree in computer
>science might be overkill as a credential?  Should we look at programmer
>training in the same way as electronics technician training?

>Hmmm...

Bill -

I work at Ohmeda Monitoring Systems in Boulder, CO.  We ( the Software Group )
just got through re-defining the old generic Engineer XX job descriptions for
new (improved!) job descriptions for Software Engineers.  When you take the
position that software engineering is the design of software, with the
primary end product being module specs, test plans, and schedules,
it certainly doesn't require a CS ( I *hate* vi :-( )
degree to transform pseudo-code into source.  Many "technical schools" such
as ITT and DeVry already turn out people capable of coding.  Design is quite
another matter.

Paul E. Ourada
Software Engineer
Ohmeda Monitoring Systems
paulo@ohmeda.com