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Jonathan Bellack
@bellack.com

“In the state of Texas, professional engineers were originally licensed in 1937 after a boiler explosion caused the deaths of more than 300 school children. At that time, the boiler part that failed was mechanical. Today that part’s function is handled by software.” 1/7

Jonathan Bellack
@bellack.com

"Whether we like it or not, software is important. It affects people’s lives. And the development practices most commonly used to produce software are not up to the task. It’s time for software development to grow up." 2/7

Jonathan Bellack
@bellack.com

"Software engineers shall accept full responsibility for their work and approve software only if they have a well-founded belief that it is safe, meets specifications, passes appropriate tests, and is ultimately to the public good." 3/7

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Jonathan Bellack
@bellack.com

"They shall ensure that software has been adequately reviewed and tested before it is released to the public… Software engineers shall endorse only products that they have adequately reviewed and objectively agree with." 4/7

Jonathan Bellack
@bellack.com

quotes from Steve McConnell (legendary author of Code Complete and Rapid Development) in After the Gold Rush, 1999. A book that should have had much more impact than it did. 5/7

amazon.comAfter the Gold Rush: Creating a True Profession of Software Engineering (Best Practices): McConnell, Steve: 9780735608771: Amazon.com: BooksAfter the Gold Rush: Creating a True Profession of Software Engineering (Best Practices) [McConnell, Steve] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. After the Gold Rush: Creating a True Pr...
Jonathan Bellack
@bellack.com

If the senior engineers working for Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, and their ilk had signed up to a rigorous code of ethics, would they have been OK shipping ad systems that overlook fraud, recommendation algorithms that trigger overuse, or AI test rigs that can get out to the public Internet? 6/7

Rhea
@r64n.bsky.social

Civil and mechanical engineers push back because stamping bad work carries personal legal liability. Without an actual license to lose, an ethics code is mostly just wall art.