[prog] State of software engineering profession

[Jimen Ching]

On Sat, 13 Apr 2003, Jenn Vesperman wrote:
>On Sun, 2003-04-13 at 18:42, Mary wrote:
>> I think part of the problem is that although you've talked about the
>> poor standards and general blinkered view of the software industry, and
>> implied that you in particular do not share these views and therefore
>> rise far above the common or garden variety software engineer, that you
>> have not sufficiently proven your status.
>Another part of the problem is that you (Jimen, not Mary) seem to be
>making assumptions about what other people think. As it happens, noone I
>know thinks the way you claim we do. (or at least, not to the best of my
>knowledge.)

Yes.  I'm beginning to see that the other participants also see this
thread the same way.  I'll correct this in my response to Robert's email.
I assure you that it is not my intention to tell other people how to
think, or what they should be thinking.

Note, from the wording of your response, it seems to imply that it is
impossible to know what people think.  I'm not a mind reader.  But I do
follow the industry and even if I can't tell what individuals think, I can
tell how the industry behaves; and make some assumptions about what the
industry, as a whole, might be thinking.  I believe this is what analysts
do.

I should also note that my intention is to get people thinking.  Not
implying that people aren't thinking.  Just that they should think more.
;-)  Remember the question that started this thread.  I asked

	How did we, as software professionals, get into a state that
	accept poor software as a normal way of life.

I didn't say it in so many words.  Perhaps that might be the reason for
the direction that this thread has headed.  Matter of fact, even this
qoute could be misinterpreted.  There are more than one way to interpret
'poor software' or 'poor X', as has been done in this thread.  I hope this
response can clear up some of those miscommunications.

--jc
-- 
Jimen Ching (WH6BRR)      jching at flex.com     wh6brr at uhm.ampr.org