How important is it for software engineers to have professional experience?

[samir@m.fedica.com]

@evan too late to vote but my vote would be "very important", pondering that it could have been lower if you asked me in the past, mostly because with the AI tools now it's critical to have someone review the generated code. A less experienced engineer would accept the code as is without thinking of implications

On the flip side of arguments, I also less experience can be good sometimes, having a fearless team member can explore new ideas without the baggage of past experiences

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@julian Ha, good point!

[evan@cosocial.ca]

Another thing that people honed in on was "software engineering" versus "programming", "software development", or other names for building software. I didn't intend it as a major focus, but I did want to cover all the parts of the job of getting software made -- not just typing code.

[nemeciii@mastodon.social]

@evan polls are hard. Making words mean what you intend those to mean for everyone matches the complexity of naming things.

Make a poll on how to name these things.

What is programming comprised of ?:
- writing code
- tests
- communication
- design
- planning
...

Is a program truly ever complete?
- yes
- no

[interstar@artoot.xyz]

@evan

But does working on unpaid solo projects count?

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@interstar Sure

[gam3@ruby.social]

@evan It has been 25 years since I read "The Mythical Man Month". Is there anything more current on the subject?

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@gam3 25 real years, or mythical man years?

[gam3@ruby.social]

@evan Ha!

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@gam3 so, two books I'd recommend:

"Dreaming in Code" is a great one. Not very recent but very good. And sad.

"A Philosophy of Software Design" is very readable and interesting.

Finally, it is not a great beach book, but for understanding the practice I think SWEBOK is great.

https://www.computer.org/education/bodies-of-knowledge/software-engineering

[gam3@ruby.social]

@evan Dank-je-wel.