Software Engineering as a Profession: A Moral Case for Licensure

This chapter makes the argument that software engineers, as part of a program of moving toward more formal professionalization, should be licensed. It outlines the nature of the profession and the arguments that justify licensing in professions other than software engineering. It then traces the initial steps the software industry has already taken towards professionalization, including codes of ethics and educational standards. There are morally and practically compelling arguments, rooted in the professional’s obligations to society, to do more: licensing, or some other sort of formal, binding and revocable certification, is also necessary. The chapter considers but rejects a number of reasons one might resist this as a goal. 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Suite 200, Hershey PA 17033, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.idea-group.com INFORMATION SCIENCE PUBLISHING This chapter appears in the book, Social, Ethical and Policy Implications of Information Technology, edited by Linda Brennan and Victoria Johnson. Copyright © 2004, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited. Software Engineering as a Profession: A Moral Case for Licensure 205 Copyright © 2004, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited. INTRODUCTION Software engineers should be licensed. Many other lines of work, especially traditional professions like law and medicine, justifiably require licenses and other sorts of professional certification of their practitioners. The software industry has already taken some initial steps towards professionalization, including codes of ethics and educational standards sponsored, developed and endorsed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). But these initial steps, while salutary, are not sufficient. For the same reasons so many other fields have more or less strict licensing requirements, the software industry should adopt analogous processes and procedures. It should move toward, even if incrementally, more formal professionalization, to include licensing or professional certification. BACKGROUND: WHAT MAKES A PROFESSION? Consider the following argument. Premise 1: Broccoli is better than nothing. Premise 2: Nothing is better than sex. Conclusion: Broccoli is better than sex. The joke turns on an ambiguity in one of the key terms in the premises. The word nothing means something different in Premise 1 (“not having anything”) than it does in Premise 2 (“there is no thing that”), allowing us invalidly to reach the (presumably) false and comical conclusion. Ambiguity in our terms can, apparently, get us into trouble. Professional is another term fraught with ambiguity. It might describe nothing more than taking money for one’s services. It has also been used to denote a certain high level of proficiency, as in “Joe’s a real pro.” One professional engineer, when pressed for what he thought made a professional, claimed (tongue in cheek) that professionals wore neckties. And of course, there is the commonly held idea that professionals, whatever they turn out to be, are more esteemed in society than those in other lines of work, and are typically more highly paid. We want our children to be, or at least to marry, one. There is a more focused and interesting sense of the term professional. It is the sense attached to a number of paradigm institutions and callings, which together seem to provide examples that answer to this more interesting conception of profession: law, medicine, the clergy, the military officer corps, teaching, public accounting, and many types of engineering, to name a few. There are no doubt other occupations that answer to this sense of being a professional—an exhaustive list is not needed for our present purposes. But it is important to make 17 more pages are available in the full version of this document, which may be purchased using the "Add to Cart" button on the product's webpage: www.igi-global.com/chapter/software-engineeringprofession/29314?camid=4v1 This title is available in InfoSci-Books, InfoSci-Security Technologies, Science, Engineering, and Information Technology, InfoSci-Select, InfoSci-Computer Science and Information Technology. Recommend this product to your librarian: www.igi-global.com/e-resources/libraryrecommendation/?id=1