That wonderful resource, Wikipedia says, “A profession is a vocation founded upon specialised educational training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain.” According to the Oxford English Dictionary, professions involve the application of specialised knowledge of a subject, field, or science to fee-paying clientele.
In re-opening the debate on professionalism in the information technology sector, it occurred to me that we might be referring to the youngest profession and maybe this is why it has yet to emerge as a clearly-defined profession. We are obviously not concerned, in this context, with the difference between a paid practitioner and an amateur. Although the term “professional” is often used simply to differentiate between the remunerated and the rest, we tend to expect the term to be applied to those operating at a higher level than plain “worker.”
So, when we refer to doctors, attorneys, advocates, accountants and engineers, we have a vision that they have been extensively educated, have letters after their name and command higher fees or salaries than the average. They usually have to belong to a formal body or association that records their status and monitors their behaviour. In other words, they are registered and/or licensed to practise their skills on or for the fee-paying public and may be held accountable for the quality of their performance.
Why doesn’t this apply in the IT sector? Les Hatton, of Kingston University in the UK, said that he was ashamed of being a member of the “IT profession.” He claimed that it was not scientific, did not have repeatable processes, allowed unconstrained creativity and did not differentiate between change and progress. He referred to IT as a fashion industry, pursuing a relentless drive to replace the old and tested with the new and untested. Hatton went on to say that the lack of focus and career infrastructure had not only led to a catastrophic drop in students entering the profession but also contributed to the billions wasted on systems that did not work.
Nicholas Spanos, of IT consultancy Computer Aid, gave the following reasons for IT’s poor reputation. IT practitioners are reactive, requiring detailed specifications from business, rather than understanding the business and designing an appropriate solution. There is no clear career structure, no way to differentiate quality performers from marginal ones – job titles mean little and long experience is considered obsolete. Technology is unreliable, using bloated operating systems and poorly-understood languages. Businesses have to adapt their processes to utilise software applications not designed for their needs. The role of the CIO is not clearly understood, leading to vague communication between business and technology, often biased in favour of one or the other. IT will live with, work around or repeatedly fix problems, rather than designing a permanent solution. IT does not live up to its commitments, failing to deliver solutions within time, cost and scope parameters. IT does not take the blame. Spanos concludes that IT operates like a bureaucracy instead of a profession.
Dr Mike Rodd, the past CEO of the British Computer Society acknowledges that, despite all attempts to “professionalise” IT, it is painfully evident that an unacceptably large proportion of so-called IT projects continue to fail.
Moira de Roche (past President of Computer Society South Africa) presented a paper on IT and Professionalism in Developing Countries in which she debated the IT skills gaps in Africa and advocated the need for an internationally- recognised professional qualification for IT practitioners. She motivated the extension of the Computer Professional Education (CPE) qualification from the Australian Computer Society (now available through CSSA) and the ongoing development of the International IT Professional (IITP) qualification.
In the 2009 survey of the value of British Computer Society (BCS) membership, 80% of their members indicated that the main role of BCS is to develop professionalism and 66% said that membership of BCS has contributed to their career progression. We should note here that the BCS is the UK’s “chartered professional institution for the IT field” – a status the equivalent of which is not yet enjoyed by CSSA locally. It is interesting to note that in the UK there is a Government IT Profession, providing an electronic “home” for all IT “professionals” working in the UK public service, including everyone from the new entrants to the members of the Chief Information Officer Council. This initiative was formalised in 2005 and is led from the Cabinet Office – underpinning the importance placed by Her Majesty’s Government on the role of technology in the business of government.
From another perspective, governments need to be able to benchmark the experience and qualifications of potential immigrants against internationally-recognised standards. In common with the practice followed in many other countries, our own Department of Home Affairs needed to seek the assistance of the Computer Society to evaluate the professional status of foreign workers intending to work in our IT sector. This assessment not only ensures that the incoming skills match the required standards but it also protects South Africans from losing their jobs to immigrants.
In the building industry, most of us would understand the need for qualified “professionals” to be engaged at every step of the process, from surveying, through design and specification to construction and inspection. Success results in durable, functional and attractive real estate. It is the application of disciplined principles and processes that prevent a descent into chaos.
This approach is fundamental to the principles espoused by the Software Engineering Institute, as illustrated in the following extract from Professor Barry Dwolatzky’s 2004 briefing paper on that entity: ‘The SEI’s core purpose is to help others make measured improvements in their software engineering capabilities.
The right software, delivered defect-free, on time and on cost, every time.
To be successful, integrated teams of developers, acquirers, and software users must have the necessary software engineering skills and knowledge to ensure that the right software is delivered to end users.
‘“Right software” implies software that satisfies requirements for functionality, performance, and cost throughout its lifetime.
‘“Defect-free” software is achieved either through extensive testing after coding or by developing the code right the first time. The SEI’s body of work in technical and management practices is focused on developing it right the first time, which results not only in higher quality, but also in predictable and improved schedule and cost.’
Peter Denning of George Mason University stated in a 2000 interview that practices are all the routines, habits, skills, procedures, and processes you have embodied and exercise without thought. When you are judged to be a competent professional, it’s your practices that are being assessed, not your conceptual knowledge.
The South African dilemma seems to be the apparent incompatibility between the aspirations of those who are pursuing quality improvement and the need for transformation. The solution, in my view, is that global standards can and should be achieved with local skills. We must enhance a professional standard of performance by combining the right mix of academic learning and product training with relevant experience, while acknowledging the importance and recognition of life-long learning. Inherent in that knowledge transfer must be leadership by example and demonstration of both the personal and corporate value of adhering to the highest standards of ethical behaviour. The guardians of our ability to match and exceed global standards are local professionals.
Adrian Schofield •tf•
Adrian Schofield manages the Applied Research Unit of the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering at Wits University and is the current President of Computer Society South Africa. He can be reached at adrian@jcse.org.za.
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