Certification and licensing for software professionals and organizations

Abstract

The push for regulating the software industry increases whenever tales of software problems or some new snag in the sociable fabric arises as a result of computing is reported in the media. We begin with a brief definition of professionalism, followed by a discussion of common methods for certifying both individual software developers and software development organizations. The work of the Joint IEEE-CS/ACM Steering Committee to Develop Software Engineering as a Profession is examined. Issues of the various stakeholders are described briefly, followed by some conclusions for software engineering educators.