Les Chambers

Hello!

I am an electrical engineer who has spent the past 40 plus years building software intensive safety critical systems in the USA, Australia, Asia and the Middle East.
By a wonderful accident of history I appeared on the systems engineering scene in time to participate in a major inflection point in human history; when humanity began to use software in systems designed to preserve human life.

I got my start making chemicals directly with software, working with chemical engineers in Hong Kong and the US industrial complex. I later worked in rail projects for Hong Kong and Taiwan. Life critical systems engineering finally led me to combat management and missile delivery systems in the Middle East and Australia.

I’ve been a project manager, safety authority, quality manager, configuration manager, requirements engineer, verification and validation engineer, design authority, system architect, controls engineer, software developer and hardware designer.

Its been a wild ride!

With all I’ve seen I’ve concluded one thing:

In the limit everything is become software

For example, within 50 years drivers, pilots, sea captains, accountants, lawyers … will be replaced by software. Most of these roles are or will be life critical. If they fail lives will be lost.

To meet this challenge the systems engineering profession must evolve, particularly in the areas of human interaction and engineering philosophy. As a minimum, engineers must graduate with a clear and certain belief that –

Engineering is not a job, it is a way of life

I have much more to say about this, hence this blog.

Please enjoy.

Les