The IT Profession Flashcards
What are the key characteristics and functions of a profession in the UK?
A profession provides confidence around the quality of services delivered particularly in matters of life and death and function a variety of ways: training requirements, entry control, accreditation, code of conduct, acts as an advisor on related matters and defines & publicises good practice.
In the UK, engineering is not regulated, in the USA it is tightly regulated.
List some of the professional bodies in computing in the USA and UK?
USA: State of Engineers Registration board
UK: IEEE Computer Society, Institution of Eng and Tech and British Computer Society
What is meant by a reserved title in context of a profession (with example)?
Job title can be reserved, for example, only those registered with the Architects Registration Board can call themselves architects.
What is meant by a reserved function in context of a profession (with example)?
Job function can be reserved, for example, only members of the Institute of Chartered Accounts can carry out a company account audit.
What is meant by a reserved title and function (with example)?
Title and function may be reserved, for example, vets must be registered with the RCVS to call themselves vets and to carry out surgical procedures.
Define the pros & cons of reserving the software engineering title and function?
Pros: Can help prevent disasters for mission critical systems, introduce best practice through accreditation and basic training. Provide assurance to customers and professional status to attract talent. Essentially, help the industry mature.
Cons: Most software is not mission critical, may drive software engineers underground or overseas, hard to agree to standard career path, SE are doing well without it, many SE have not had formal training. Essentially it would stifle innovation.
