The scope of the Electrical Engineering community is up to them. If you want to propose changes, you should ask on their meta. We don't impose scope on communities; we allow communities to define their own boundaries.

The EE community was specifically proposed as EE and not general. The proposal rejected the idea of EE being part of a general engineering community; the concern is that "engineering" is too broad. There is also a proposal for a general engineering community, though it has not gained much traction so far.

It can be hard to find the right level of generality. Software Development seems broad; it encompasses all technologies, design processes, tools, testing, and more. You might look at that and think "well, if it works for them, then we can combine all types of engineering in one place".

In my experience, it comes down to how much commonality there is in the target audience. Software developers work with many technologies, languages, tools, and processes over the course of a career, so a seasoned C++ developer can help a new QA person with a git question. Those topics are related and interconnected. From what I understand (from the outside), that kind of cohesion doesn't exist (or isn't very strong) among chemical and structural and mechanical engineers. It might feel more like three groups hanging out together in the same place, each looking at a third of the activity. That makes it harder to build a shared community. On the other hand, if there are enough of any one of those groups and they want a place of their own, they can focus on their area, like EE has chosen to do.

There's no one right level of generality or specificity. It's fine to ask a community if boundaries could be adjusted. Ultimately it's up to the people in the affected community to decide what's in and what's out.

posted almost 4 years ago

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Monica Cellio‭ staff

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