Licensing and certification of software professionals

For many years, software organizations have needed to hire developers with a wide range of academic and professional qualifications, due to the ongoing shortage of individuals qualified to create and maintain the products required to satisfy marketplace demand. Many of these companies have used the certification credentials of such individuals to help judge whether they have the proper background for the development requirements of their particular software organization. Certification is a voluntary process intended to document the achievement of some level of skill or capability. Such certification can be awarded through a variety of organizations. To date, company-based certification programs have been dominant in the software field. These programs have been created and run by a particular company, and are usually centered on determining an individual's qualification to use a particular type of software that is marketed by that business. However, these programs are often limited in scope, and sometimes make it possible to acquire certification with little practical software development background or formal training. However, there have recently been a growing number of efforts to provide more comprehensive certification programs for software professionals through professional societies and independent organizations. Some of such certificates are offered as a specialization in areas that in a number of fields are a part of the product development process, e.g., quality assurance and project management. In other cases, there are programs intended to certify individuals for having general knowledge and abilities across a wide range of software development areas. In some countries, such certification of software engineering professionals is done on a nationwide basis by an engineering professional society. There has also been an increased interest in the licensing of software engineering professionals. Licensing is a more formal version of certification that involves a government-sanctioned or government-specified process, with the health, safety and welfare of the public in mind. Since engineering is a field where licensing is commonplace in many countries, most of this effort has focused on the licensing of software engineers. However, while licensing is commonplace in professions such as law and medicine, it has until recently been virtually unknown in the information technology field. A number of IT professionals have raised a variety of concerns about the licensing of software engineers, including issues related to liability and the body of knowledge upon which to base such licensing programs. This chapter will examine the various licensing and certification initiatives, including the history of its development, the process and content of such programs, and the arguments both for and against licensing and certification.