Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego (and Is She a Software Engineer)?
by Phillip A. Laplante
When my kids were young, there was a cartoon show called Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? Popular from the early to mid-1990s, the show was centered around Carmen Sandiego—an evil, globe-trotting, ex-secret agent. The franchise began as a computer game published by Broderbund Software and was intended to teach kids about geography. Sandiego and her associated characters later spawned books, videos, licensed merchandise, and television shows that aired in several countries.
Recent conversations pertaining to licensure of software engineers in the US and offshoring had me thinking about Carmen again. I wondered how well she would have fared if her secret agent cover was as a software guru. Would she be able to pass as a software engineer in several different countries—for example, in the US, India, Malaysia, Argentina, and Ireland? Read More »
