What many neglect as well is that in many cases, software is regulated. I’ve worked on software where there were real laws about how and what I could produce, how the data must be managed and where, and what degree of quality and testing must be maintained.

I had to write an oath to my province to execute on that faithfully. I was working with private health records. I know lives weren’t at risk, but it took a lot of knowledge and resources to execute on that properly, and maintaining quality and privacy around those systems is genuinely very important.

I don’t call myself an engineer, but I don’t think my job is a joke either.