| The Information Technology (IT) profession does not
have that all encompassing, recognizable one-word name
to bestow
recognition upon its practitioners, the way "doctor", "teacher",
or “engineer” does. “Informatician” could
have been it, but somehow did not catch on. "Programmer" almost
made it, but it has recently become a four-letter word to
be avoided at all costs (think outsourcing…).
The IT profession has many types of application developers,
system analysts, project managers, IT specialists, database
administrators, webmasters, web designers, security specialists,
testers, data architects, software engineers – the
list is long. But only one word on that list, “engineer,” is
subject to deep scrutiny and heated debate. The type of
debate that lands in courts across the country.
What’s the issue?
Scholars are still debating whether Software Engineering
is just another branch of engineering or a branch of
computer science. The term began its “career” in
the late 60’s in the computer science community,
and has steadily gained acceptance ever since. Many colleges
and universities offer software engineering courses.
The term is also embedded in professional designations
from major computer vendors – Microsoft’s
MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) being the
most popular, with some 25,000 holders in Canada alone.
But in recent years, sporting such any title containing
the word “engineer”, has come under fire
from the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers (CCPE)
and professional engineers’ provincial associations.
The first court battle was given in 1997, when CCPE
and The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists
of Newfoundland (APEGN) sued the Memorial University
of Newfoundland (MUN), alleging that MUN's use of the
term "software engineering" in the name of
its computer science program infringed upon CCPE and
APEGN copyright.
In November 2001, the Association of Professional Engineers,
Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta (APEGGA) launched
a suit in Alberta against an Apple-certified software
engineer. The association argued that it had a mandate
to protect the use of the term “engineer,” so
that the public should not be confused or put at risk
by the misuse of the title and misrepresentation of skills.
That case was dismissed recently by the judge, who argued
that the defendant had not tried to represent himself
as a Professional Engineer, or undertake conventional
engineering work, and as such there was no risk to public
safety.
But later on, in April 2004, the association of the
professional engineers of Quebec (OIQ) was successful
in suing Microsoft over their 2001 decision to allow
MCSE holders in Canada to use their designation. In this
case, the Quebec judge upheld the OIQ obligation to defend
the title. Microsoft is to appeal that ruling and the
battle is likely to continue.
But what is being said outside
the courts? The IT camp
Michael Bolton, founder of DevelopSense, a Toronto training
and consulting firm, expresses the opinion of many software-engineering
practitioners when he says:
“I think that it's inappropriate for an organization
or company to expropriate generic words for their own
definitions and purposes, to the exclusion of anyone
else's right to use the word. Most words in English
have multiple meanings; in fact, the first time I heard
about the controversy over ‘Engineer’,
I wondered, ‘How do the locomotive drivers feel
about this issue?’ Should the Ontario Medical
Association be able to prohibit non-medical Ph.D.s
from calling themselves ‘doctors’?”
And what about “data mining”? Or “data
architect”? While the “data miner” has
not quite cut it as a professional title, the mining
industry has not logged any complaints to date!
Neither did the architects associations. “Project
Manager,” a wide spread and well-respected title
in IT, administered by the Project Management Institute,
has not been under fire either, despite the fact that
many conventional industries employ non-IT project
managers.
Other IT practitioners distance themselves from the
term “engineer” for different reasons.
Says Fiona Charles, a test manager with a large software
company: “ I've never liked the term ‘software
engineer’ because I am not comfortable with the
engineering metaphor as applied to software development.
It's better than ‘factory’ metaphors, which
I think are even more inappropriate, but I like ‘developer’.”
A large segment of the IT population is not affected
by the debate and do not feel compelled to express
a stance. This apathy is explained by the fact that,
unlike professional engineers, IT professionals (software
engineers included) do not need a provincially regulated
license in order to practice. Also, the IT professional
community, while estimated by some at 500,000 people
in Canada - a number far superior to that of licensed
engineers (160,000) - does not have a strong organization
to represent their interests as a profession. The
many but small IT organizations, and even larger
ones such as the Canadian Information Processing
Society (CIPS), which makes IT professionalism their
raison d’être, are no match for the strong
and well-ointed mechanisms of the professional engineers
associations.
Tatiana Andronache
is IT technical staff for a large information technology
company in Toronto, Canada. She can be reached at tatiana.andronache@sympatico.ca
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