And, my final post on these letters. Before I continue, let me say how fun it has been these last 3 posts. I'm gonna miss you guys. Ok, I'm done, now. On with the show... here're my thoughts on the second of two comments, “Software Practitioner Triad” Provokes Thought by Craig Hunt of Gilroy, CA.
Tisk, tisk, tisk. Craig, I'm disappointed. Looks like you went on a little rampage with your letter. Too bad it makes you look like an idiot. I have to say that I enjoy reading Alan Cooper's articles. I find that Alan has a very insightful look at the software development industry and I think we would be better off if we all stood by some of his comments.
Craig made a big fuss about Alan's comments on the title inflation that has been running rampant these past few years. I find title inflation very annoying. When someone claims to be a programmer, I come to expect that they know a few things. If I talk to them and find out that they use FrontPage to “program” web pages, I get kind of aggrevated. For a while, I noticed the overuse of the word “engineer.” Lately, however, it's been “architect” and “archtiecture.” Most of the time, using these words can make sense, but for those who know and understand what the words should mean, it's annoying to see others throwing it around to look smarter and/or more important. For instance, we are all software engineers in the mildest sense of the title; but, if you look at what software engineering truly entails, most of us don't cover the gamut of it. I have worked with consultants from some companies who claim to be architects. So, to see if I can learn something from them or possibly get an idea of what their breadth of experience is, I like to ask them questions about projects, best practices, and sometimes problems that I may be running into at the time. There have been several times when I found out that I was talking to a developer, not an architect. Having the title “architect” or “engineer” is supposed to mean something: knowledge, skill, and most of all, experience. For those that are truly deserving of the titles, we realize and are disgusted by this inflation problem. I will admit that management sometimes gives us these titles; but, don't you think that, out of respect for the field, you should correct them? Out of respect for what it is that they have strived for and acheived. Wouldn't you want the same respect?