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1
The State of Software Engineering Professionalism

• October 2007
• Timothy C. Lethbridge

2
Overview

• Part 1 What is a profession and professionalism?
• Types of professions
• Attributes of professions
• Part 2 Professionalism in software engineering
• The conundrum
• Development of attributes of the SE profession
• Details
• SWEBOK, SE2004, certification, licensing
• Part 3 Directions forward

3
Professionalism

• Behaving and acting consistently with the norms
  of a profession

4
What are professions?

• A full-time, paid occupation recognized in
  society as requiring advanced knowledge and/or
  skill, with at least one association members can
  or must join, and a code of conduct/ethics.
• Some professions are legally recognized
• Governments have passed laws recognizing members
• In turn, members have a legal responsibility to
  uphold the interests of society, above other
  interests
• Others professions are less formal

5
Legally recognized professions (1)

• I will use to mark uses where use of the term
  will be disputed
• A. Professions with practice-restricting licenses
  in many jurisdictions
• Practice or aspects of practice are limited to
  license holders
• Medicine, Dentistry, Chiropractic, Pharmacy, Law,
  School Teaching, Engineering (in theory in
  Canada), Architecture
• Some licensed professions in Ontario
  http//www.citizenship.gov.on.ca/english/working/c
  areer/
• Licensed professions in New York State
  http//www.op.nysed.gov/title8.htm
• Truck Driving (required training and drivers
  license)
• Divinity (those licensed can perform marriages,
  etc), etc.

6
Legally recognized professions (2)

• B. Professions with signoff-restricting licenses
  or certifications,
• A licensed/certified person must approve certain
  types of work done, but may delegate most of the
  work to others
• Anyone may do certain of the work, but members
  have a legal basis to state to others that they
  are competent
• Engineering (in some places), Financial Analysis
  (CFA), Chartered Accountancy (CA), Certified
  Management Accountancy (CMA), Logistics,
  Electrician, Plumber
• C. Professions with legal standing but where
  there is no legal requirement for signoff of work
• Information Systems Professional (ISP) in Canada
• See http//local.cips.ca/ontario/documents/pr21_fi
  nal.pdf
• And http//local.cips.ca/ontario/

7
Professions without legal recognition

• D. Professions with optional certifications that
  do not have legal weight
• Software Development (CSDP), Project Management
• E Professions not generally licensed or
  certified, but where a degree or diploma provides
  evidence of competence
• Scientist (various types), Journalist
• F Other professions where an apprenticeship
  model is typically followed
• Mason
• G. Professions where the limiting factor is
  simply that you must have sufficient skill or
  knowledge that someone is willing to pay you
  enough to do it full time
• University Professor, Sport player (Hockey,
  Golf, Football), Actor, Artist, Musician,
  Politician

8
Key attributes of a profession

• Public recognition Others outside profession X
  understand what a member of profession X does and
  can do
• So outsiders know who to consult when they want
  some service
• So outsiders can feel confident they are getting
  work done by someone competent
• To ensure public recognition There must be
• A. A defined scope of practice
• B. A recorded body of knowledge (principles,
  facts, best practices)
• C. Codes of practice and ethics
• consequences when they are violated
• D. Methods to educate/train, accredit education,
  and ensure continuing education
• E. Well-understood criteria for membership
• F. Organizations to establish and administer the
  above

9
Other attributes of many professions

• Membership is limited / controlled
• As opposed to de-facto
• Self-governance
• The profession controls all attributes described
  on the last slide
• Members are disciplined by their organization
• Legal recognition and responsibility
• Includes the concept of malpractice
• Respectability / Status / Social Privilege
• Private practice with individual clients
• Work autonomy
• You are able to control aspects of how you do
  your work, even when working for an employer
• Your responsibility to society and your
  profession comes first in case of conflict

10
Specializations / Specialties

• Most professions have well-defined specialties,
  often with their own certifications and
  associations
• Medicine Board-certified specialties
• IT
• Project management Professional
  http//www.pmi.org
• Information security (Certified Information
  Security Manager) http//www.isaca.org/Template.cf
  m?SectionCISM_Certification
• Hacking (Certified Ethical Hacker)
  http//www.certifiedethicalhacker.com/
• Certified Information Technology Professional
• Vendor-specific certifications (Microsoft,
  Oracle)
• Database administration, UI design
• etc.

11
So what does it mean to exhibit professionalism?

• Obtain the required education and ongoing
  education (D)
• Adhere to the codes of practice and ethics (C)
• Apply the principles and knowledge properly (B)
• Practice within the scope of your expertise (A,
  D) and defer to others when boundaries are
  reached
• Obtain and maintain appropriate credentials (E)
• Participate in the appropriate professional
  organizations (F)

12
Overview

• Part 1 What is a profession and professionalism?
• Types of professions
• Attributes of professions
• Part 2 Professionalism in software engineering
• The conundrum
• Development of attributes of the SE profession
• Details
• SWEBOK, SE2004, certification, licensing
• Part 3 Directions forward

13
The conundrum in software engineering (1)

• Almost all industrial software development is
  software engineering, in the sense described by
  SWEBOK and SE2004 (discussed later)
• Bad development is just bad engineering
• There is very little true computer science
  practiced in industry
• But engineering societies define only a subset of
  SE as engineering
• They focus on aspects of development that most
  directly impact public safety
• Public uses of the term software engineering is
  now widely applied to developers in general
• See movie trailers, press articles, etc.
• Software development, computer science and
  software engineering are overlapping terms in
  many peoples minds
• To avoid confusion, there perhaps ought to be
  just one profession with specializations

14
The conundrum in software engineering (2)

• There are vast numbers of practitioners
• Applying a licensing model strictly would not
  make sense
• Applying licensure to only certain types of
  software would be confusing and discriminatory
• There are too many fuzzy boundaries and overlaps
• Requiring signoff from an engineer would still
  require vast numbers of developers to become
  licensed
• In Canada, there are two legally standing
  designations for a developer
• ISP
• P.Eng
• Most developers have neither and dont see much
  benefit in obtaining either
• Those who feel they are computer scientists, but
  not software engineers (e.g. theoreticians) are
  starting to feel marginalized

15
Professional Engineering in Canada

• Engineers Canada (CCPE) definition
• Planning, designing, composing, evaluating,
  advising, reporting, supervising or managing
• AND
• Applying engineering principles
• AND
• Safeguarding life, health, property, economic
  interests, public welfare or the environment
• http//www.engineerscanada.ca/e/files/guideline_pr
  actice_with.pdf
• The above clearly applies to software engineering
• In Ontario, economic interests is not mentioned
• http//www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/
  elaws_statutes_90p28_e.htm
• Most graduates of engineering programs have not
  bothered to get their license

16
Professional engineering in the US (New York
State as an example)

• Consultation, investigation, planning, design or
  supervision of construction or operation
• In Connection with
• utilities, structures, buildings, machines,
  equipment, processes, works, or projects
• Wherein
• the safeguarding of life, health and property is
  concerned
• When
• such service or work requires the application of
  engineering principles and data
• http//www.op.nysed.gov/article145.htm
• Note that Texas specifically includes software
  engineering in its list of specialties

17
Critical information infrastructure

• The Government of Canada has listed software for
  the the following as part of the critical
  information infrastructure
• Energy
• Communications (telecommunications, broadcasting,
  Internet)
• Finance (banking, securities, investment)
• Health care (hospitals, health information
  systems, pharmacies)
• Food and agriculture (safety, distribution)
• Water (drinking and waste)
• Transportation (all kinds)
• Government services
• Certain manufacturing industries (e.g. chemical)
• http//ww3.ps-sp.gc.ca/research/resactivites/CI/20
  03D022_ENG_FINAL.pdf
• The list will likely expand as society becomes
  increasingly dependent on software

18
Development of key professional attributes in SE
(1)

• Public recognition
• The term is now in widespread use, and is favored
  over most other terms in the press, etc.
• Body of knowledge
• Defined in SWEBOK (See upcoming slide)
• Also many other well-defined standards (e.g.
  IEEE)
• But consequences for violation are not evident
• Scope of practice
• Tools, techniques, methods defined in SWEBOK
• Also other definitions by engineering societies
• But the application dimension needs better
  definition

19
Development of key professional attributes in SE
(2)

• Code of ethics
• Established by IEEE and ACM
• http//www.acm.org/about/se-code
• Education
• Undergraduate programs established
• Standard SE2004 curriculum defined by IEEE/ACM
• http//sites.computer.org/ccse/
• Accreditation of programs has been undertaken
• in Canada by the CEAB and CSAC
• In the US by ABET

20
Development of key professional attributes in SE
(3)

• Criteria for membership
• A subject of argument!
• Could be
• A. All who do development (de-facto membership)
• Includes many people with questionable knowledge
  and skill
• B. All with CS or SE degrees
• But what about many Computer Engineers, and do
  all CS degree holders have key SE knowledge?
• C. All who are licensed professional engineers or
  ISP holders doing development
• Seen as overly restrictive by many
• D. Those with certifications like CSDP, or CSDA
  (discussed in an upcoming slide)
• There is concern that certifications may
  proliferate and/or have low uptake
• E. Some combination of B, C or D

21
Development of key professional attributes in SE
(4)

• Organizations to administer the above
• Internationally, IEEE Computer Society, ACM, IFIP
• Standards bodies ISO, IEC, ITU, etc.
• Nationally
• US IEEE USA, ACM
• Canada
• CIPS
• http//www.cips.ca
• Engineers Canada
• http//www.engineerscanada.ca/
• Formerly Canadian Council of Professional
  Engineers
• UK British Computer Society, IET
• State, provincial level Professional Engineering
  Societies or Boards (PEO, APEGGA, etc.), CIPS
  provincial chapters
• Are there too many for a coherent profession?
• And there are others in specialties (SPIN, AAAI,
  etc.)

22
Body of Knowledge SWEBOK (1)

• www.swebok.org
• Current (2004) version was the result of
  extensive consultation and review
• Divides software engineering knowledge into 10
  knowledge areas
• Requirements, Design,Construction, Testing,
  Maintenance, Configuration Management, SE
  Management, SE Process, SE Tools and Methods,
  Software Quality
• Plus related disciplines
• History ACM pulled out due to concerns they
  would appear to be backing a licensing model

23
SWEBOK (2)

• Concerns
• The body relies on references that are not well
  backed up by evidence
• Initial versions of chapters were written by
  experts with widely varying styles
• There was much overlap
• The review process didnt clean this up enough
• Some areas of SE were relegated to related
  disciplines
• Clearly does not provide sufficient basis for
  determining malpractice
• Ongoing work
• Development of the next version is underway
• Includes alignment of KAs with SE2004 and
  CSDP/CSDA

24
Curriculum SE2004

• http//sites.computer.org/ccse
• Developed between 2001 and 2004 by the IEEE and
  ACM
• Based originally on SWEBOK KAs, but added basic
  science, and diverged during the review process
• The next steps
• There is a group looking at defining what is
  needed in a masters-level education in SE

25
Certification CSDP

• CSDP
• Certified Software Development Professional
• The word engineering avoided for legal reasons
• Requires
• Degree
• Four years experience
• Passing of an exam
• Ongoing professional development activity
• lt1000 people since 2001
• But this matches the early history of some other
  certifications
• Currently undergoing a refresh cycle

26
Certification CSDA

• CSDA
• Certified Software Development Associate
• Requires
• Passing of an exam (can be written in final year
  of a degree)
• A university degree or documented experience (to
  be defined)
• Development now in beta stage
• Volunteers needed (graduating students)
• http//www.computer.org/certification

27
Certification ISO/IEC CD 24773

• A standard for development of professional
  certifications
• CSDP and CSDA comply

28
Harmonization efforts

• The next version of SWEBOK, CSDP/CSDA and SE
  curriculum will use the same base categories

29
Licensing

• It is becoming easier for software developers to
  become licensed
• Some have led the way
• Mostly among academics
• Certain provincial initiatives

30
Overview

• Part 1 What is a profession and professionalism?
• Types of professions
• Attributes of professions
• Part 2 Professionalism in software engineering
• The conundrum
• Development of attributes of the SE profession
• Details
• SWEBOK, SE2004, certification, licensing
• Part 3 Directions forward

31
Where do we need to go?

• An established profession of software engineering
  clearly already exists
• But it is not unified, and needs improvement
• Our main objective should be
• Improve the quality of software by improving the
  background of practitioners
• Quality must be broadly interpreted
• Usability, reliability, maintainability, safety
• Not just safety, which is the traditional
  engineering emphasis
• To achieve this
• Convince employers to
• Preferentially hire those with recognized SE
  qualifications
• Upgrade the skills and knowledge of existing
  employees

32
Other objectives

• Prevent the proliferation of certifications and
  improve their quality
• Promote one or two, or harmonize all
• Improve quality of SWEBOK
• Improve lines of communication among all
  stakeholder organizations

33
Discussion
34
My background relevant to this topic

• SE2004 committee member
• Worked with CACS/AIC on this issue
• CSEET steering committee chair
• Professionalism is one of the areas of interest
• CSDP and CSDA board member
• Reviewer for SWEBOK
• Participated in discussions to harmonize SWEBOK,
  SE2004 and IEEE certifications
• Non-member participant in some IEEE-CS
  Professional Practice Committee meetings