Software Engineering != Computer Science

Posted by Robert Merrill on June 14, 2009 under Software-Intensive Businesses | Be the First to Comment

Thanks, Jim Elliott, for showing me this article in Dr. Dobb’s Journal.

Chuck Connell draws a bright line between the two, and the discrimminant is, “directly involves human activity…the results from disciplines below the line might be used by people, but their results are not directly affected by people.”

Chuck concludes with, “…classical computer science is helpful to software engineering, but will never be the whole story. Good software engineering also includes creativity, vision, multi-disciplinary thinking, and humanity.”

This is what drew me to the very regions that many technical people flee. Project chartering and early requirements, and estimates and commitments. First, I like it (although I still like writing good, tight code too). Second, I believe that the keys to business success with software are usually on the people side, not the technology side.

Ecologists know that the interesting things happen on the edges of habitats, in this case of business and technology. So if you want to be successful, that’s where you focus.