Alright you say, this isn’t much different than most professional organizations, and you get to be a “real” engineer, that has to mean something, right?

What is an engineer

In Canada, most of the engineering jobs require the professionals to be part of the organization that is the Ordre des  ingénieurs du Québec, otherwise they can’t actually work. Being part of the organization means that the engineer has done the above tasks, is experienced and most likely competent. For example, only an engineer can approve plans for building various structures, this is called an “acte réservé” or an exclusive act. For sure, if one wants to do work that requires oneself to perform one of these reserved acts, doing what it takes to become an official engineer is a no brainer.

Being an engineer also has a couple of benefits, it can give you access to better deals at banks or a better cellphone plan, better insurance rates because being an engineer means that you probably have a relatively good income (good for paying debts) and that you probably have a good (or decent) head on your shoulder which means you take less risk than the general population, hence the lower insurance rates. There are quite a bit of other advantages to being part of the organization, but I won’t list them all here.

What about a software engineer

So why won’t I become a “real” engineer? Because there are simply no benefits for me. Most importantly, software engineers have no “reserved acts” (yet) which means I can work anywhere I want anyway. Secondly, I can already have access to all the benefits because I’m still part of the organization, simply not as a full-fledged engineer and most (all?) of the companies acknowledge my status as equivalent to being an engineer (better insurance rates, deals at hotels, etc.).

Another new issue that came up is that engineers will now be required to do a minimum of continuous education every year. I’m not saying that’s a bad idea, quite the contrary, but in my case, I already stay up-to-date on my own and since I’m not doing it through one of the official channels, that wouldn’t even count as continuous education.

Also, as I said earlier, it costs over two hundred dollars per year to be known as an engineer.

So, as long as there is no benefit to becoming a “real” engineer, I’ll remain a baccalaureate in software engineering.

They write code. Making it well-factored and clean is important, but other factors often take priority. Math skills are very much optional, but it does help to be aware of common problems and solutions related to the domain they are in. Communication and people skills are paramount. Process and team dynamics are bread and butter skills. They are consummate generalists without any truly deep specializations. They are expert at finding ways around problems and plugging components together to fulfill a set of requirements. In their personal time they are either trying to build the next Facebook, or engage in activities that have nothing to do with programming, developing, or computer science.

That’s pretty much dead on. I’m always thinking about useful new apps, tools, projects that would first and foremost benefit me, but that could probably be useful to a large group of people. I love working in a team where I can help others with my knowledge (and learn from them too).

Since I build web application, I can say that I am a web developer (with a specialization in front-end web development).

What about software engineers?

The post explaining the difference between different programing professions was lacking the software engineer definition, so I’ll take a stab at it.

A software engineer is part developer and part manager. He is taught the ways of programming without ever digging in deep enough to be considered an expert. The software engineer is also taught multiple software development processes which he can then adapt to the situation. He also knows the basics to managing projects which makes him a great candidate for future management positions after he has had first hand experience with software development. A software engineer is a manager in the making.

The actual act of programming is not the reason why I program, I do it for the results. That probably explains why I prefer to use high level languages that abstract most of the boring parts of programming and let me get from the idea to the implementation as fast as possible.

I don’t exactly know what I really am if I’m not a programmer. I really like creating web applications, thinking of new features or new projects that I could do, but I never look forward to actually coding it. I like playing with the markup, the styling and the client-side behavior (the whole front-end), but I hate programming what’s under the hood.

Any other programmers out there feeling that they are programming out of necessity instead of passion?

Next week, I’m taking it to another level. A high school student will be following me for a day (not much following to do since I work on the computer all day). This will not impact my work too much and I will be able to help someone experience first hand what his potential future career will look like, about 6 years before being able to get there.

Helping the future software engineers is something we, at Hint Innovation, and I truly believe in. We depend on what the education system builds, in terms of graduates, and as employers of future graduates, I think it’s important to be a part of that system.

Web development education is at a critical point, it’s mostly untouched by software engineering formations but most companies now need professional Web developers. There are places other than universities that teach Web development, but they don’t teach the same things as the universities. Both are needed, but currently only one exists.

I find the manifesto really interesting because that’s something I would like to do myself, at least partially. I love writing, teaching people new things, sharing my experiences. I say partially because I wouldn’t have anything to write about if it were not for my work, where I get to learn so much. I have so many project ideas, but I don’t take the time to even start any of those. After having read the manifesto, I’m a little more motivated, I need to answer 2 important questions raised in the ebook (he calls them “the two most important questions in the universe”):

1. What do you really want to get out of life?
2. What can you offer the world that no one else can?

Anyway, if you ever thought about going solo and working on your own, give this ebook a chance and read it.

Here are a few interesting posts (in my opinion) you might’ve missed:

• Code Usability
• Process Usability
• Password Management 101
• Handling Users

In the past few weeks I improved the navigation and layout. I also made some improvements to help with SEO (Search engine optimization) (on this website too). If the traffic gets good enough, I’ll probably try to put up some advertisements (non obtrusive of course). In the meantime, I’ll keep posting to improve my writing.

Here’s a quote from the post:

The most important use you can make with your own domain is having access to an infinity of email addresses. You probably already have at least one @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, @hotmail.com, @whatever-free-email-service.com address, probably 2 or more, everyone does. However, none of these gives you as much freedom as having your own domain does.

My friend Simon also applied at the same time and we both received emails informing us that we would be going through a few interviews, starting with the phone interview.

The phone interview

The interviewer kept asking me about network related stuff and heavy performance oriented problems. After the interview (which didn’t go well since I couldn’t answer most of the questions because they were all about things I don’t like doing), they informed me that I would not be doing more interviews because I was not a good fit for the position they were considering me for. I’m glad I didn’t go for that job, I would’ve hated it though I would have liked to be considered for a position where my skills were useful. I prefer working on the front-end part of applications, creating features and working on improving the usability. I asked them about other positions, but they wouldn’t reply to my emails (not because I was harassing them, just because my emails seemed to get lost in my contact’s inbox).

Letting go

In the end, I found a great opportunity at Oracle (what seemed like a great opportunity) and decided to focus on that instead. Since that didn’t work out I finally landed a great job at Hint Innovation.

I’m glad I failed that interview: at the time, Google seemed like the ultimate workplace, but I would have missed on something even better.

I got into the program when I started Polytechnique because it just made sense. I was studying software engineering and having a laptop with me at all times would help me do my homework anywhere I want. However, Polytechnique didn’t handle the program too well so it fell apart after the first year. This was their second attempt at such a program. Lucky for me, this time the failure of the program did not affect us as much as it did for the students of the previous trial.

Impact

Having a laptop with us at all times meant we could see the notes the teacher put online for us and we could experience the code snippets the teachers were showing. However, we also had access to the Internet and all its distractions. A lot of people from the group couldn’t handle the distractions and more than a few failed and dropped while others had trouble getting passing grades. There is so much that can be done online that is way more entertaining than listening to a boring teacher. Only the best teachers had the luck of having our attention.

Errors

Most teachers didn’t adapt their class to make use of the laptop. Most of them just released their notes online and allowed the students to open the laptop in their class. Furthermore, the group was a merge of students from many fields: some were studying computer and software engineering while others were studying civil or industrial engineering. Usually, the classes are grouped by domain to encourage the students to participate in their student committee. The year of A2P2 was the worst year for participation, only 3 or 4 of us were ever active in the committee instead of the usual 10 to 15 (I’m not talking about having a position in the committee, I’m talking about going to the events and helping the committee organize the said events).

Program termination

Fortunately for us, unlike the guinea pigs from the previous program, we bought our own laptops so when the program got canceled we were stuck with whatever laptop we had decided to buy instead of the one chosen by the school. We could still bring them to class and use them instead of the computers in the computer laboratories which were always full of students near the end of the semester. It was very helpful to always have access to a computer from anywhere in the school.

Lesson

Having a laptop during class can be beneficial so long as the teacher and the students are aware of the impact it can have. If the teacher is just a note reading machine then the students won’t pay attention and will either waste time on the Internet or work on their school projects. So long as the student doesn’t waste too much time, having a laptop can help, especially near the end of the semesters.

Without them, I would not be doing what I do today, nobody would be doing what they are doing today without mentors. We all need a starting point and a way to learn more about something (in the form of a book, an Internet article or a person). Now that I am a qualified Web developer, I still need the help from my colleagues and from the online communities more than ever. I still read plenty of blogs and articles about Web and software development practices and I still don’t know everything about HTML, CSS, JavaScript, C#, SQL, etc. (I’m working hard on that).

If I need them, I thought that maybe my help could be valuable. That’s why I try to do my part and participate in helping others learn and get better.

This is how I try giving back to the development community.

Blogging

The first way is via blogging. I’ve started this blog here mostly for logging the important events in my career, but I’ve also started writing in a more technical blog which I hope will help others become better developers. I’ve been reading various development blogs for a few years now and it has had a big impact on the way I think and develop. By blogging here and at Crossbrowser, I feel like I can reach and help many people at once.

Academos

Academos is a web site built to help young students (high school) learn more about the jobs they are interested in. They contact someone who does a job they consider for their future and ask questions about what qualities are important to do that kind of work, what formation is required, the work environment, etc. No one knows what work is really like more than the people doing the job, so us E-mentors can really help them choose the right career.

Development communities

I’ve always wanted to help others on development forums. However, until recently I never had a community that I felt I could really connect with. That place is called Stack Overflow (think experts-exchange, but free) and helps developers around the world find answers to their problems. Anyone can ask a question and anyone can post their solution and comment. There’s a reputation system encouraging people to answer which means a question rarely goes unanswered. There is still the problem of very specific questions that no one really knows the answer of, but so far all my issues have been resolved. I do my part there by contributing answers and comments on questions in my field of expertise.

Web education

Web development education has been lacking at University level (there was nothing about the Web where I graduated). During the Wine & Cheese of January hosted by the Polytechnique de Montréal, a great teacher I had mentioned the new class they had which is an introduction to Web development. He wanted to create three more classes about different Web development subjects but said that school needed to feel the need and support from companies.

Shortly after I came across two articles from A List Apart which were talking about Web education. The first article mentions a few groups trying to help build the curriculum and talks about the state of Web education at University level (it’s pretty much nonexistent at most universities). The second article talks about what we, Web development professionals, can do to help improve that.

So after talking with my colleagues and bosses, we decided to offer our help and support to the local university in building their curriculum or for anything else they might need us.

Giving back

It’s important for me to help others as I was helped now that I am in a better position to help. There are other ways to help, this is how I chose to do it and I’ll be on the lookout for other opportunities to give back. It feels good to help and if you have the tools to do it, you should.