> In fact, in some Canadian provinces, titles in computing such as “software engineer,” “computer engineer,” and others containing “engineer” are (in principle) reserved for people licensed as engineers by the provincial engineering regulator.
A most rational stance. One we should enforce here in the US.
Edit: Yes, I'm arguing that Software Engineer should be a licensed profession, but programmer shouldn't, and would be a fine substitution in the cases where you didn't need rigor.
--
If I were an engineer, there's no way I would trust any interface to a control system for a water purification plant that connected to the internet and allowed for ingress of control. Just as an example.
The OPM hack of 2015[1] is the worst case, in terms of national security, that clearly proves no Engineers were involved in the design of their computer system. Ingress of control should be absolutely prohibited, and it wasn't. I don't know why that database was ever put into a computer, instead of filing cabinets in a vault, nor why it was ever connected to any other system, and not completely air-gapped in said vault, with manual controlled exfiltration of data upon request.
In an overwhelming majority of cases, I've found the root cause is simply Doing The Right Thing Costs More.
It isn't "filing cabinets in a vault" that costs more. It is hiring the people with the requisite experience, expertise and soft skills to navigate those conversations. It is pushing the technical boundaries so these decisions are automatically made upon the metadata carried along by the pieces of infrastructure we're pushing around the table. It is putting in place the appropriate regulatory frameworks with auditing enforcement that halt overzealous KPI-chasing executives from overriding the caution signals raised within their own organizations, without stifling innovation.
And many other prudential measures set aside for "move fast and break things". Which unfortunately in so many cases boil down to "externalize my costs onto someone else who hasn't yet figured out they're the patsy" in a massive shell game of "Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree" attributed to long-serving U.S. Senator Russell B. Long of Louisiana.
mikewarot · · focus · HN ↗
A most rational stance. One we should enforce here in the US.
Edit: Yes, I'm arguing that Software Engineer should be a licensed profession, but programmer shouldn't, and would be a fine substitution in the cases where you didn't need rigor.
--
If I were an engineer, there's no way I would trust any interface to a control system for a water purification plant that connected to the internet and allowed for ingress of control. Just as an example.
The OPM hack of 2015[1] is the worst case, in terms of national security, that clearly proves no Engineers were involved in the design of their computer system. Ingress of control should be absolutely prohibited, and it wasn't. I don't know why that database was ever put into a computer, instead of filing cabinets in a vault, nor why it was ever connected to any other system, and not completely air-gapped in said vault, with manual controlled exfiltration of data upon request.
[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Office_of_Personnel_Management_data_breach" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Office_of_Personnel_Manag...
yourapostasy · · focus · HN ↗
In an overwhelming majority of cases, I've found the root cause is simply Doing The Right Thing Costs More.
It isn't "filing cabinets in a vault" that costs more. It is hiring the people with the requisite experience, expertise and soft skills to navigate those conversations. It is pushing the technical boundaries so these decisions are automatically made upon the metadata carried along by the pieces of infrastructure we're pushing around the table. It is putting in place the appropriate regulatory frameworks with auditing enforcement that halt overzealous KPI-chasing executives from overriding the caution signals raised within their own organizations, without stifling innovation.
And many other prudential measures set aside for "move fast and break things". Which unfortunately in so many cases boil down to "externalize my costs onto someone else who hasn't yet figured out they're the patsy" in a massive shell game of "Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree" attributed to long-serving U.S. Senator Russell B. Long of Louisiana.