> As an example, how seriously would you take an aircraft flight controls software engineer who willfully chooses to never learn how an airplane flies?
This describes exactly the Boeing and MCAS fiasco. In fact, not only did Boeing hire do this, they outsourced the work overseas. People overseas are capable of doing great work, but they do the work exactly the the spec and nothing more. If you don't have an internal engineering process to account for situations unique to software, there's no way you can ensure that what they deliver is fit for purpose.
> Furthermore, I know a slew of extremely bright, tenacious, and committed young people who are ruthlessly pursuing excellence in engineering.
Those types of kids are going extinct. The kids coming up now are entirely smart-phone raised. An actual computer is an afterthought, they can't even explain what a file is. We're headed for the software engineering dark ages.
This describes exactly the Boeing and MCAS fiasco. In fact, not only did Boeing hire do this, they outsourced the work overseas. People overseas are capable of doing great work, but they do the work exactly the the spec and nothing more. If you don't have an internal engineering process to account for situations unique to software, there's no way you can ensure that what they deliver is fit for purpose.
> Furthermore, I know a slew of extremely bright, tenacious, and committed young people who are ruthlessly pursuing excellence in engineering.
Those types of kids are going extinct. The kids coming up now are entirely smart-phone raised. An actual computer is an afterthought, they can't even explain what a file is. We're headed for the software engineering dark ages.