Software designers, not engineers: An interview from alternative universe

While the physicists investigate the nature of the mysterious portal that has recently appeared in North London, several human beings recently came through the portal, which appears to be a gate into an alternative universe. As we understood from the last two people coming through the portal, it seems to be a linked with a universe that is in many ways like ours, reached about the same level of social and technological development, but differs in numerous curious details. The paths through which people in this alternative universe reached similar results as our world are often subtly different.

The most recent visitor from the alternative universe is Ms Zaha Atkinson, who would most likely be titled software engineer in our world, although the title she uses in her home world is software designer. She is a well-known software designer and has been also titled using the strange-sounding title softwarenova, a label that we will soon say more about. As with other technological and societal developments, the alternative universe seems to have arrived at very similar results as our worlds. Software is eating the (alternative) world, but it is built in very different ways. The interview with Ms Zaha Atkinson, presented below, reveals how very different the world of software is when we think of programmers as software designers rather than as software engineers.

This article is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, may or may not be entirely coincidental. It has been largely inspired by the book Designerly Ways of Knowing by Nigel Cross. Ms Zaha Atkinson also may or may not be entirely fictional.

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