Comment by voidhorse

Yes, I don't think many software devs have a proper conception of what it is they are actually doing. They view their job mostly as "make computer do thing" and not "model and represent some aspect of reality as a system of computable functions". Yes I know it sounds overly academized and pedantic but there actually is a huge difference in these perspectives and imo it's only when you adopt something closer to the latter that engineering really happens.