---
esco_uri: http://data.europa.eu/esco/skill/209a5498-3449-4689-8ed9-bd08cab4fd78
esco_label: "engineering principles"
relation: essential
onet_soc: 15-1252.00
source: model-knowledge
confidence: high
qa_count: 1
generator: gemma3:27b (prompt-designed and spot-checked by Claude)
generated: 2026-07-10
---

# engineering principles — Software Engineer

For a Software Engineer, 'engineering principles' isn’t about building bridges – it’s about applying systematic thinking to *design* software that works reliably, efficiently, and is maintainable over time. This means constantly balancing functionality (what the software *does*) with replicability (how easily it can be built/deployed consistently) and cost (development effort, runtime resources, long-term maintenance). Daily tasks reflecting this include architectural design discussions – choosing data structures, algorithms, and system interactions not just for immediate needs but also considering scalability and future modifications. It's about making informed trade-offs; a faster algorithm might be more complex to debug, or a simpler solution may lack necessary features.

## Praxiswissen (Stack Exchange, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

**The questioner is curious about why the YYYYMMDD date format is so common in programming, specifically wondering if it's related to database performance or sorting efficiency.**

The primary reason for using YYYYMMDD is its compatibility with standard string sorting algorithms. This format allows dates to be sorted correctly alphabetically without needing special parsing logic. Additionally, the consistent digit length and integer-convertibility of this format simplifies processing and ordering further.

*Source: [Is there any technical reason why, in programming, the default date format is YY](https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/q/378931) — answer by Arseni Mourzenko, CC-BY-SA 4.0*

## Weitere Anreicherung

Stage-2 source for future practitioner grounding: arXiv cs.SE (software-engineering preprints).
