Re:What Computer Science Programs Should Teach
by ThrowawayR2 on Friday April 29, 2022 @10:58AM
(#31205996)
> "At one time there was a exam for the Principles and Practice of Engineering with the discipline of Software Engineering from NCEES. ... The issue was that so few individuals took the exam that it was discontinued."
No, no one took the PE exam for software engineering because it was effectively impossible.
To become a PE, first the candidate has to pass one of the Fundamentals of Engineering exam to become an engineer-in-training. Except there wasn't ever a software specific FE exam; the most relevant one is the EE/Comp. E. exam. Take a look at the list of topics: https://ncees.org/wp-content/uploads/FE-Ele-CBT-specs.pdf. Most developers aren't going to pass that even with a CS degree.
After that, the candidate needed 4-8 years of job experience while supervised by another licensed engineer. But, whoops, there are barely any software developers with a PE license, so who would they get to supervise them?
Only then does the candidate get to take the PE exam for software engineering and become a licensed professional engineer. Frankly, the situation was so absurd that one has to suspect that NSPE/NCEES didn't want to certify software developers as PEs.
No, no one took the PE exam for software engineering because it was effectively impossible.
To become a PE, first the candidate has to pass one of the Fundamentals of Engineering exam to become an engineer-in-training. Except there wasn't ever a software specific FE exam; the most relevant one is the EE/Comp. E. exam. Take a look at the list of topics: https://ncees.org/wp-content/uploads/FE-Ele-CBT-specs.pdf. Most developers aren't going to pass that even with a CS degree.
After that, the candidate needed 4-8 years of job experience while supervised by another licensed engineer. But, whoops, there are barely any software developers with a PE license, so who would they get to supervise them?
Only then does the candidate get to take the PE exam for software engineering and become a licensed professional engineer. Frankly, the situation was so absurd that one has to suspect that NSPE/NCEES didn't want to certify software developers as PEs.