Years ago, there were proposals and trials of licensing software engineers, much like we license civil and electrical engineers who work on critical infrastructure projects. Such engineers have the initials “P.E.” to denote a professional licensed engineer.
While a P.E. might not do all the engineering work, at the end of the process, the project would be signed off by a P.E.
About 15 years ago, there were proposals – and at least one state – that developed a P.E. licensing program for software engineers who would work on critical infrastructure projects, or life safety projects (medical equipment, for example).
Those proposals have largely disappeared at this point. But after the CrowdStrike failure that took down the global IT infrastructure, likely costing tens of billions of dollars in direct damages, globally, do we need to reconsider Professional Engineer licensing of software engineers who work on critical infrastructure?
Having a P.E. does not guarantee there will be no serious defects but it may reduce the likelihood of such problems on future projects.
Licensing in other fields of engineering requires completion of an engineering degree from an accredited university program, then taking and passing an engineering fundamentals exam, plus typically 4 or more years of engineer apprentice practice under the direction of a licensed engineer, and then taking a 2nd professional engineering exam.
What do you think?
