It involves applying engineering principles and computer programming expertise to develop software systems that meet user needs.
Problems included software that was over budget, exceeded deadlines, required extensive debugging and maintenance, and unsuccessfully met the needs of consumers or was never even completed.
The term appeared in a list of services offered by companies in the June 1965 issue of "Computers and Automation"[8] and was used more formally in the August 1966 issue of Communications of the ACM (Volume 9, number 8) in "President's Letter to the ACM Membership" by Anthony A.
[11] Margaret Hamilton described the discipline of "software engineering" during the Apollo missions to give what they were doing legitimacy.
[17] In 1984, the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) was established as a federally funded research and development center headquartered on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
Non-functional requirements specify issues like portability, security, maintainability, reliability, scalability, performance, reusability, and flexibility.
In 2004, the IEEE Computer Society produced the SWEBOK, which has been published as ISO/IEC Technical Report 1979:2005, describing the body of knowledge that they recommend to be mastered by a graduate software engineer with four years of experience.
[38] Many software engineers enter the profession by obtaining a university degree or training at a vocational school.
In addition to university education, many companies sponsor internships for students wishing to pursue careers in information technology.
These internships can introduce the student to real-world tasks that typical software engineers encounter every day.
[citation needed] A small but growing number of practitioners have software engineering degrees.
In 1987, the Department of Computing at Imperial College London introduced the first three-year software engineering bachelor's degree in the world; in the following year, the University of Sheffield established a similar program.
[40] In 1997, PSG College of Technology in Coimbatore, India was the first to start a five-year integrated Master of Science degree in Software Engineering.
In 1998, the US Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) established the first doctorate program in Software Engineering in the world.
[41] ETS (École de technologie supérieure) University and UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal) were mandated by IEEE to develop the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK), which has become an ISO standard describing the body of knowledge covered by a software engineer.
[6] Legal requirements for the licensing or certification of professional software engineers vary around the world.
In the UK, there is no licensing or legal requirement to assume or use the job title Software Engineer.
Software engineers work with businesses, government agencies (civilian or military), and non-profit organizations.
Many companies hire interns, often university or college students during a summer break, or externships.
[50] Potential injuries in these occupations are possible because like other workers who spend long periods sitting in front of a computer terminal typing at a keyboard, engineers and programmers are susceptible to eyestrain, back discomfort, Thrombosis, Obesity, and hand and wrist problems such as carpal tunnel syndrome.
[51] The U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) counted 1,365,500 software developers holding jobs in the U.S. in 2018.
[57] Since computer programming can be done from anywhere in the world, companies sometimes hire programmers in countries where wages are lower.
[60] Then there is the additional concern that recent advances in Artificial Intelligence might impact the demand for future generations of Software Engineers.
[71] The ACM had a professional certification program in the early 1980s,[citation needed] which was discontinued due to lack of interest.
The vast majority of working professionals in the field hold a degree in CS, not SE.
Given the difficult certification path for holders of non-SE degrees, most never bother to pursue the license.
This approach had some flaws, mainly the distance / time zone difference that prevented human interaction between clients and developers and the massive job transfer.
[74] Although statistics do not currently show a threat to software engineering itself; a related career, computer programming does appear to have been affected.
[75] Nevertheless, the ability to smartly leverage offshore and near-shore resources via the follow-the-sun workflow has improved the overall operational capability of many organizations.
[77] Research has been carried out in the area of global software development over the last 15 years and an extensive body of relevant work published that highlights the benefits and problems associated with the complex activity.