Engineers build tools for other people. The profession exists in support of human life. We make the substrate that civilization runs on.

If humans are the point, this also goes for keeping work environments humane.

▲ andrekandre 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

  > The profession exists in support of human life.

it very obviously supports capital and if human life also then its just a side-effect*

*this is just an observation, not a normative claim

▲ catcowcostume 31 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

> We make the substrate that civilization runs on.

That's a bit self-aggrandizing - especially for Software engineers.

	▲	sho_hn 25 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I did mean engineers in general (I work with and have great respect for mechanical engineers, for example, and my folks were in construction), but I don't it's necessarily self-aggrandizing, either. I've worked on chat software and know people who met using my software and got married and have kids. I've worked on software somewhere in the chain of publishing important ideas, or just to share a joke. I don't mean to say that this software was the only means of doing either of these things, of course. But we do make tools that people use regularly when living their lives. Sometimes it's just about being reliable or not getting in the way. The modern equivalent of flintstones and sharing stories around the fire. It's about taking your work seriously - the qualities of what we make matter - and feeling some sense of purpose. And knowing who you're doing it for. I don't think that's being self-important.