In a previous article:
>> Business people will be professionals when they have a code of conduct, an oath of duty, minimum standards for entry, and the other accoutrements of professionalism. CPAs, for instance, are professionals, due to the oath to protect, their duties, the difficult exam, and so forth.
Other accountancy types are not. Sadly, this applies to software 'professionals' as well. Some of us belong to organizations that have performance oaths and ethical standards, but most do not, and there is no enforcement anyway. Nor is there a bar exam, though there should be... And many a clown in way over his head writes software, or directs its writing. <<
I am so totally against a standard bar exam for programming. It's only use will be to limit people coming into programming, so that salaries can remain high. My account friends say that sure, their cpa exam was a good gatekeeper, making sure people have a basic knowledge, but the real reason to have a cpa exam is to keep there from being too many cpas. That's partly why it keeps getting harder every year. If you are already a cpa, you don't want there to be too many new cpas.
-nick |
