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Research draft

software engineer

vr.tr.software-engineer · thing-q1709010

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.

Thing Registry Society, people and institutions SOC.PER

Research draft, second pass

A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.

Researched by: Claude

Bundle → Layer → Finding → QuestionsClassifiersWhat it isWhy it existsDistinguishing featuresWhat robots and AI may and may not doMoral aspectsOwnersLinks to other meta-modelsIdentity and identifiersDirect propertiesRecognitionCapabilities and actionsHazards and failure modesStandards and interfacesContext of useSources

Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled

4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions

Understand What a software engineer is.

Definition

Definition.

Definition

Definition.

  1. What is a software engineer, and how does the role differ from developer, systems engineer, data scientist and computer scientist? definition
  2. Is the question about the role, a specialisation, careers or title regulation? boundary

Roles

Specialisations.

Roles

Roles.

  1. What do principal, ML, NLP, research software and bioinformatics engineers and software evaluators do? definition
  2. Which entry fits the specific role? action
Practice Practice.

Methods

Methods.

Methods

Methods.

  1. What engineering practices do software engineers use across the lifecycle? provenance
  2. Which references are standard? provenance

Ethics

Ethics.

Ethics

Ethics.

  1. What does the software engineering code of ethics require? provenance
  2. Which sources are cited? provenance
Career Career and regulation.

Levels

Career levels.

Levels

Levels.

  1. How do career ladders such as senior, staff and principal work? provenance
  2. Which entry fits engineering career ladder? action

Title

Title regulation.

Title

Title.

  1. Where is the title engineer legally protected, and how does it apply to software? provenance
  2. Which entry fits professional engineer? action
Context History and research.

History

History.

History

History.

  1. How did software engineering emerge from the software crisis? provenance
  2. Which entry fits software crisis? action

RSE

Research software engineering.

RSE

RSE.

  1. What is research software engineering in academia? provenance
  2. Which entry fits research software engineering? action

Classifiers Filled

Family
Thing Registry
Category
Society, people and institutions
Entry kind
thing
Plane
SOC
Domain
SOC.PER
Other names and narrower kinds
principal software engineer, machine learning engineer, research software engineer, natural language processing engineer, Bioinformatics engineer, software evaluator, software tester, senior principal software engineer

What it is Filled

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.

Why it exists Filled

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.

Distinguishing features Filled

  • Engineering discipline
  • Lifecycle focus
  • Many specialisations
  • Title regulation varies

What robots and AI may and may not do Filled

Must not

  • 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.

Only with a human decision

  • Hiring, firing or evaluating a named engineer.

May

  • Describe software engineering roles and specialisations from professional sources.
  • Note where the engineer title is legally restricted in a jurisdiction.

Moral aspects Filled

  • Software engineers build systems whose failures can harm many people.
  • Automated screening of candidates can discriminate.

Who is affected

  • Software engineers
  • Job applicants
  • Users of their software

Owners Filled

Steward

The person in the role; professional licensing bodies where the title is regulated.

Master systems

  • Professional engineer licensing registers

Links to other meta-models Filled

parent

  • Q1572123 - registry parent class
  • Q5157565 - registry parent class

related

  • systems engineer - in registry terms
  • software engineering
  • software developer - overlapping role
  • SWEBOK - as reference

What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled

Identity and identifiers required Filled

  • Vercy registry: vr.tr.software-engineer
  • Wikidata: Q1709010 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1709010)

Direct properties not applicable Not applicable

  • 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

Plane SOC: no invented physical properties.

Recognition optional Filled

  • 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 and actions required Filled

  • explain the role
  • relay practices and careers
  • describe specialisations
  • distinguish related roles

Hazards and failure modes required Filled

  • Confusing titles across companies
  • Legal title restrictions
  • Registry aliases mixing levels and specialisations

Standards and interfaces required Filled

  • IEEE and ISO software engineering standards
  • Professional engineering title laws in some jurisdictions
  • ACM/IEEE Software Engineering Code of Ethics

Context of use required Filled

  • 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 Filled

  1. Wikidata item Q1709010: software engineer - identity and sense of the item
  2. Wikipedia: Software engineer - general description of the item

Open questions

  • 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?

Machine files

Card as JSON Specification Card backlog vercy.card/1

Provenance

thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed

Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q1709010/spec.json