Comment by gremlinunderway
4 hours ago
There's nothing about software dev that's anything near like the real engineering world even if the label "software engineering" is used.
Until software dev is regulated by professional boards and the government, it will continue to do the same damage to society that pre-regulation engineering did during the industrial revolution.
So talking about corollaries to real engineering is stupid because without those regulatory and professional liability components, people aren't just going to magically coalesce around best practices and ethics. This is a libertarian trope
Unfortunately thanks to silicon valley, the libertarian viewpoint here has far too much sway
I am constantly reminded of the heavy industrial sites near the US Great Lakes in the early 20th century, and elsewhere. The raw toxic output into the local rivers and air were "worth it" -- to investors and subsequently to their carefully chosen engineers. Did engineering standards alone improve this?