Re: Professional or Not (was Database Design)

"Galen Boyer" <galenboyer_at_hotpop.com> wrote in message news:u8ykmm3ep.fsf_at_standardandpoors.com...
> It is clear that you, and others, think that our profession needs
> to be elevated to the level on par with medicine. That is a
> thought that screams self-importance. Our profession and work
> isn't dealing with life-threatening issues.

I think a better comparison is with Accountants or Lawyers, with rare exceptions in the case of lawyers these two professions do not deal with life threatening issues. Never the less there is a clear public need for accountancy and law to be practised to a high standard of both ability and ethics. Enron and Ambulance chasers notwithstanding the professional setup for both Accountancy and Law works reasonably well. I'd suggest that there is a clear public and business need for IT to be practised to a similarly high standard of both ability and ethics.

I work in the public sector, which partly because of its organisation and funding and partly because of its accountability is often used as an example of the serious impact that poorly run and practised IT can have. Most large organisations should also be able to point to the effect IT can have on both their private business interests and the wider public interest. A few examples

Is there public interest in having reliable, stable and available banking systems?
Is there public interest in having reliable,stable and available telephony? Is there public interest in having reliable,stable and available taxation systems?

etc etc.

Unfortunately most 'professional' education in the IT world is concerned primarily with highly narrowly focussed skills acquisition, rather than application of principles to business situations.

A better professional education would teach not only things like 9i new features, or XSLT v2.0 or whatever but also

Legislative environment (eg relevant data protection, intellectual property etc acts)
Ethics
Theory (for example codd/date, hashing algoithmns, shannon etc) Project Management and implementation
Accountancy Basics (like how to account for costs of a 3 year project properly).
as well as a minimum period of work experience etc etc.

This wouldn't set us up as self-important and arrogant, but rather would help gain and give public assurance as to the quality, integrity and performance of the profession. If I hire a Chartered Accountant or Barrister in the UK I have a comfort level as to what I will get. If I hire an MCSE or an OCP my only comfort is that they have at least read some introductory material to some specific software. It is worlds apart, and until this changes i'm afraid that at least to me IT Professional is a marketing term rather than a reflection of reality.

Um does this have anything to do with database design any more?

Cheers

-- 
Niall Litchfield
Oracle DBA
Audit Commission UK