I recently got into a discussion in the comments section of someone else’s blog where I argued that many software developers are overly confident in their abilities. I further argued that this overconfidence leads to the kind of behavior that would be considered professional malpractice if a lawyer, doctor, or professional engineer did something similar in their respective field.
A fellow software developer expressed an opposing view. He made the following points:
- only a small percentage of software can cause as much damage as medical or legal malpractice and that software is highly regulated
- if we stop people from pursuing their interests it will stifle innovation, which he was very much against
I hear variations on this view quite often and I think it is worth exploring.
