Comments on: Software Professionalism http://james.shade.org/blog/2007/05/03/software-professionalism/ Programming and other things Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:35:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Stephen Tjasink http://james.shade.org/blog/2007/05/03/software-professionalism/#comment-586 Stephen Tjasink Wed, 30 May 2007 14:26:23 +0000 http://james.shade.org/blog/2007/05/03/software-professionalism/#comment-586 This is a very important and complex topic. The term "IT" is very broad, but ultimately everyone who is involved should be "brought into the fold" to some degree. If project managers, account managers, line managers, helpdesk staff, etc, all have instilled in them a certain degree of professionalism and knowledge of the industry, then it makes it easier for software practitioners themselves. And as to how we, as software practitioners, take control of our own industry, that is a difficult question. When engineers "professionalised" their profession, were they working for companies who had salesmen that went out and sold projects that they were then expected to deliver ASAP without going over a very tight budget and not being allowed much thought towards the future? These are things that impact professionalism in software development and can restrict activities that we would see as furthering professionalism. It's going to be a tough struggle because of the nature of the modern commercial landscape. We should not let that discourage us though and we should attempt to make useful gains wherever we can. This is a very important and complex topic. The term “IT” is very broad, but ultimately everyone who is involved should be “brought into the fold” to some degree. If project managers, account managers, line managers, helpdesk staff, etc, all have instilled in them a certain degree of professionalism and knowledge of the industry, then it makes it easier for software practitioners themselves.

And as to how we, as software practitioners, take control of our own industry, that is a difficult question. When engineers “professionalised” their profession, were they working for companies who had salesmen that went out and sold projects that they were then expected to deliver ASAP without going over a very tight budget and not being allowed much thought towards the future? These are things that impact professionalism in software development and can restrict activities that we would see as furthering professionalism.

It’s going to be a tough struggle because of the nature of the modern commercial landscape. We should not let that discourage us though and we should attempt to make useful gains wherever we can.

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