Proud to be a Software Engineer

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Software is invisible to most of the world. Although individuals, organizations, and nations rely on a multitude of software-intensive systems every day, most software lives in the interstitial spaces of society, hidden from view except insofar as it does something tangible or useful.

Despite its transparency, as Bjarne Stroustrup has observed, "our civilization runs on software." It is therefore a tremendous privilege as well as a deep responsibility to be a software developer. It is a privilege because what we do collectively as an industry has changed and will continue to change the world1. It is a responsibility because the world in turn relies on the products of our labor in so many ways2. In the context of that labor, software is perhaps the ultimate building material: it springs from pure thought and is intrinsically malleable, yet it can be made manifest in our hardware systems, limited only by our vision (and certain immutable laws of physics and software3). As software professionals, we seek to develop and deploy useful systems of quality in a manner that reduces the distance from vision to execution. That the fruits of our labor are transparent to the world is as it should be: users want results and value, not more technology. For this reason, the primary challenge of every software development team is to engineer the illusion of simplicity in the face of essential complexity.

Handbook of Software Architecture - Grady Booch


These are the most wonderful words ever said about the profession of Software Development. I have enjoyed every bit of my career in Software Development. I loved all those little shell scripts and apps that I developed. I was excited to contribute to one of the first Wireless Prepaid service applications. I cherish those moments of designing the Unlimited Evenings and Weekends feature. I can always rave about those business support applications that I created. I love most, the fact that every 1 in 4 mobile calls made in US touches those few lines of code that I have written. I equally loved a lot, the money that came with this profession. But I never felt so proud of myself for being in this exciting profession. I feel proud for being a software engineer. For the sheer joy of creating some thing out of dreams. For such a previlege. For such a responsibility. And for such an opportunity to impact the lives of others.

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