CS 492/CS 692 W05 Role-Playing Exercise 7

Certification for software professionals

Team A

A group of young computer professionals who feel that computer scientists should be a self-governing, self-certifying body like engineers, doctors, and lawyers, recognized in law. They are worried that standards will be imposed on them by ignorant legislators, and that the proliferation of hastily-written, flawed software will bring the whole profession into disrepute.

Team B

A group of established computer scientists, many of whom came to the field from other disciplines, such as physics or English. They believe that regulating programmers would be like regulating speaking or writing, that globalization dooms any local efforts at regulation, and that the self-governing bodies mentioned above merely perpetuate privilege and exclusion.


Last updated Dec 28, 2004.