{"schema":"https://ver.cy/schemas/card/1.0.0","id":"vr.tr.software-engineer","code":"thing-q1709010","url":"https://ver.cy/models/thing/q1709010/","name":"software engineer","alternateNames":["principal software engineer","machine learning engineer","research software engineer","natural language processing engineer","Bioinformatics engineer","software evaluator","software tester","senior principal software engineer"],"kind":"thing","status":"research-draft","version":"0.2.0-wave.4","language":"en","classifiers":{"family":"Thing Registry","category":"Society, people and institutions","entryKind":"thing","plane":"SOC","domain":["SOC.PER"],"industry":[],"navPath":"","tags":[],"facets":{}},"whatItIs":"An engineer who applies engineering principles to the design, development, testing and maintenance of software systems, with specialisations such as principal software engineers, machine learning engineers, natural language processing engineers, research software engineers in academia, bioinformatics engineers and software evaluators; the title overlaps with software developer, and in some jurisdictions the term engineer is legally regulated.","purpose":"Let an agent explain the software engineer role and specialisations, relay practices, education, career levels and regulation from professional and labour sources, describe the roles the registry aliases name, and distinguish software engineers from developers, systems engineers, data scientists and computer scientists.","scope":{"in":[],"out":[],"boundaries":[]},"distinguishingFeatures":["Engineering discipline","Lifecycle focus","Many specialisations","Title regulation varies"],"structure":{"bundles":[{"id":"understand","name":"Understand","description":"What a software engineer is.","layers":[{"id":"definition","name":"Definition","description":"Definition.","findings":[{"id":"definition-finding","name":"Definition","description":"Definition.","questions":[{"text":"What is a software engineer, and how does the role differ from developer, systems engineer, data scientist and computer scientist?","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Is the question about the role, a specialisation, careers or title regulation?","kind":"boundary"}]}]},{"id":"roles","name":"Roles","description":"Specialisations.","findings":[{"id":"roles-finding","name":"Roles","description":"Roles.","questions":[{"text":"What do principal, ML, NLP, research software and bioinformatics engineers and software evaluators do?","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Which entry fits the specific role?","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"practice","name":"Practice","description":"Practice.","layers":[{"id":"methods","name":"Methods","description":"Methods.","findings":[{"id":"methods-finding","name":"Methods","description":"Methods.","questions":[{"text":"What engineering practices do software engineers use across the lifecycle?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which references are standard?","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"ethics","name":"Ethics","description":"Ethics.","findings":[{"id":"ethics-finding","name":"Ethics","description":"Ethics.","questions":[{"text":"What does the software engineering code of ethics require?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which sources are cited?","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]},{"id":"career","name":"Career","description":"Career and regulation.","layers":[{"id":"levels","name":"Levels","description":"Career levels.","findings":[{"id":"levels-finding","name":"Levels","description":"Levels.","questions":[{"text":"How do career ladders such as senior, staff and principal work?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits engineering career ladder?","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"title","name":"Title","description":"Title regulation.","findings":[{"id":"title-finding","name":"Title","description":"Title.","questions":[{"text":"Where is the title engineer legally protected, and how does it apply to software?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits professional engineer?","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"context","name":"Context","description":"History and research.","layers":[{"id":"history","name":"History","description":"History.","findings":[{"id":"history-finding","name":"History","description":"History.","questions":[{"text":"How did software engineering emerge from the software crisis?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits software crisis?","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"rse","name":"RSE","description":"Research software engineering.","findings":[{"id":"rse-finding","name":"RSE","description":"RSE.","questions":[{"text":"What is research software engineering in academia?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits research software engineering?","kind":"action"}]}]}]}]},"agentConduct":{"may":["Describe software engineering roles and specialisations from professional sources.","Note where the engineer title is legally restricted in a jurisdiction."],"mustNot":["Assume titles mean the same level across companies.","Use the title engineer for a person where the law restricts it.","Profile or rank named engineers from scraped data without consent.","Mix up levels and specialisations in the registry aliases as one role."],"requiresHuman":["Hiring, firing or evaluating a named engineer."]},"ethics":{"considerations":["Software engineers build systems whose failures can harm many people.","Automated screening of candidates can discriminate."],"affectedParties":["Software engineers","Job applicants","Users of their software"]},"owners":{"steward":"The person in the role; professional licensing bodies where the title is regulated.","roles":[],"masterSystems":["Professional engineer licensing registers"]},"relations":[{"target":"Q1572123","type":"parent","note":"registry parent class"},{"target":"Q5157565","type":"parent","note":"registry parent class"},{"target":"systems engineer","type":"related","note":"in registry terms"},{"target":"software engineering","type":"related"},{"target":"software developer","type":"related","note":"overlapping role"},{"target":"SWEBOK","type":"related","note":"as reference"}],"interaction":{"identity":{"applicability":"required","items":["Vercy registry: vr.tr.software-engineer","Wikidata: Q1709010 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1709010)"]},"properties":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":["term popularised: 1968 year - NATO Software Engineering Conference","SWEBOK: body of knowledge guide note - IEEE Computer Society","regulated title: in some countries and Canadian provinces note"]},"recognition":{"applicability":"optional","items":["Engineer of software systems","Principal, machine learning, NLP, research software and bioinformatics engineers, software evaluators","Developers write software broadly; systems engineers integrate systems; data scientists analyse data; computer scientists study theory","Not a visible object; a professional."]},"capabilities":{"applicability":"required","items":["explain the role","relay practices and careers","describe specialisations","distinguish related roles"]},"hazards":{"applicability":"required","items":["Confusing titles across companies","Legal title restrictions","Registry aliases mixing levels and specialisations"]},"interfaces":{"applicability":"required","items":["IEEE and ISO software engineering standards","Professional engineering title laws in some jurisdictions","ACM/IEEE Software Engineering Code of Ethics"]},"context":{"applicability":"required","items":["Engineering software systems.","software engineers by level such as principal","machine learning and NLP engineers","research software engineers","bioinformatics engineers","test and evaluation engineers","site reliability engineers"]}},"sources":[{"title":"Wikidata item Q1709010: software engineer","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1709010","note":"identity and sense of the item"},{"title":"Wikipedia: Software engineer","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_engineer","note":"general description of the item"}],"openQuestions":["Should machine learning engineer and research software engineer be separate primary entries?","How should professional sources be linked?","The registry entry has merged aliases naming levels and specialisations; should they be split off?"],"resources":{"spec":"/models/things/publications/thing-q1709010/spec.json"},"provenance":{"origin":"thing registry research (pass 2)","builtFrom":["models/things/publications/thing-q1709010/spec.json"],"providers":["Claude"],"researchStatus":"unreviewed","generatedAt":"2026-09-13T19:00:33Z","builder":"tools/build_cards.py@1.0.0"},"completeness":{"sections":{"classifiers":"filled","whatItIs":"filled","purpose":"filled","distinguishingFeatures":"filled","structure":"filled","agentConduct":"filled","ethics":"filled","owners":"filled","relations":"filled","interaction.identity":"filled","interaction.properties":"not-applicable","interaction.recognition":"filled","interaction.capabilities":"filled","interaction.hazards":"filled","interaction.interfaces":"filled","interaction.context":"filled","sources":"filled"},"notes":{"interaction.properties":"Plane SOC: no invented physical properties."},"score":1.0}}