Guidelines to Professional Employment for Engineers - An Educator's View
Authors: Ingersoll Alfred C. 
Published: December 2007

This paper was prepared for the 44th Annual California Regional Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in San Francisco, Calif., April 4–5, 1974. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made.

Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines.

The Guidelines to Professional Employment of Engineers and Scientists are considered to be highly desirable. Not only are they formally endorsed by most of the professional societies representing engineers and scientists, they encompass broad relations between employer and employee that would be appropriate to professionals in any field. A large proportion professionals in any field. A large proportion of the guidelines are already included in the codes of ethics of several of the societies and are thus not controversial. The principal point of contest seems to be in the matter of point of contest seems to be in the matter of vesting of pension rights. The guidelines call for early vesting for professional personnel, but some employers see this as an personnel, but some employers see this as an unmanageable corporate expense while others regard "portable pensions" as outside the province of industrial relations guidelines province of industrial relations guidelines to be endorsed by professional societies. In sum, however, the guidelines are seen as the evidence of a profession disciplining itself, for the benefit of its members, their clients and employers, and ultimately society.

Introduction

Inasmuch as every professional society of which I am a member (American Society of Civil Engineers, National Society of Professional Engineers and American Society for Engineering Education) has already formally endorsed the Guidelines to Professional Employment for Engineers and Scientists (see appendix), my position on the "Pro" side of this resolution may not seem exactly daring. Neither would it seem so in view of the fact that the AIME national organization has endorsed the Guidelines (although I do not know about the Society of Petroleum Engineers within AIME).

Yet the concept of guidelines for professional employment is sufficiently important, in my view, to warrant some kind of position statement on behalf of the fraternity of engineering educators. It must be understood that I am not commissioned by any such group or organization to make a statement. When an official proclamation from ASEE comes along, however, I'll have proclamation from ASEE comes along, however, I'll have something to say about it in my capacity as chairman of ASEE's Public Policy and Affairs Committee.

WHY GUIDELINES?

The first question to ask about our subject is "Why should there be any guidelines to professional employment of engineers and scientists professional employment of engineers and scientists issued or even studied?" The engineering profession is at least 150 years old in this profession is at least 150 years old in this country. We have done all right without guidelines of this kind up to now. Why do we need them now? The answer to this question lies in a challenge to the statement, "We have done all right….. up to now." Have we really?