In context of this, I've always been thinking that software engineers should be held way more liable -- like those of the physical engineering disciplines. In order to enforce good software engineering practice, there must be either incentives or disincentives (carrot or stick) that have clear consequences on the engineer himself/herself. Otherwise there is nothing stopping them from producing bad work. It may be unintentional and the code perhaps is simply sloppy (but still works).

This is just a thought (and may be unpopular): practices differ wildly from one company to another, and between enterprise software vs hacky side-projecty node apps, nonetheless, maybe it's time to standardize software good practices across the entire industry and enforce them, making them not just "good" practice, but mandatory practice.

If you create liability traps, the price of everything goes up and many things do not get made at all.

It's like saying that tents shouldn't exist and people shouldn't use bicycles even though they are great tools for certain jobs.

Nobody wants to pay for space shuttle levels of software engineering. It costs a lot in labor time to produce less results.

The cost of bugs varies wildly. I do not want my FADEC to have the bugs my word processor has but I do want the word processor to have more features.

What is the deal with maintenance engineers thinking every engineer ought to be one? Can't you agree it takes all types or is there something about maintenance that preempts such thoughts?

Edit: Maybe I should go around pretending hackers and poets have the moral high ground.

I think it's contempt for people who won't stand by their work. Maintenance engineer implies a very long term relationship with code but you can't get some self-aggrandizing butterflies to support something they wrote a month ago. The truth should be somewhere in between.

When you're young it's easy to derail your complaints by implying you are not smart enough to appreciate the magnificence of the code. I tend to take Feynman's position that if you're really so great, your solutions will be obvious.

There is certainly room for art in our world.

I'm just saying that what companies sell as products should not be made in the "art" mindset. Is that clearer?