Is Software Development a Craft or Factory Work?

Back in 2006, when I was a software engineer, I believed that my future was to become an analogue of a swiss watchmaker. I would have so much experience in development eventually that I will be able to produce products of great and amazing value, multiples of the inputs, an analogue of the £200,000 or even £10,000,000 watch. No raw materials in a watch cost even close to this amount, the brand, and the masterwork multiply the raw costs.

What I see instead is that Software Engineering is moving to a more commoditised format, closer to factory worker rather than master-craftsman. The bulk of the value of the product is created through Brand and UX, not through code, which I blame on engineers themselves.

• Engineers don't like to be interrupted: So the rest of the team, tries not to talk to them when they need to make decisions.

• Engineers don't like to go to meetings: So the rest of the team, tries to make decisions without them.

• Because of the above: Engineers were distanced from Quality Assurance.

A lot of developers willingly removing themselves from the decision making, and value creation equation, increasingly more and more companies treat development department as a cost centre.

Of course this doesn’t apply to all the outfits, but I see (completely subjective) trend, that engineering as investment is slowly giving in to development as cost centre.