AUTHOR
John Betts, Lesley Rackley and Julian Webb
ABSTRACT
Licensing of Software Engineers appears to be on its way in North America and the idea could follow to Europe in the not too distant future. This paper will look at other professions and examines the form their licensing takes with a view to making recommendations for the Software Engineer.
Recent discussions about the licensing of Software engineers has focused on the professional training of new entrants to the field. We discuss licensing from the point of view of the practising professional. Since those within the industry who must take the decisions regarding the form licensing could take are themselves practising professionals, we also discuss the importance of an all encompassing form of licensing.
This paper will look at ways of making the work of the Software Engineer more visible in order that the quality of the work can be critically examined.
Further questions to be discussed will include the need to monitor performance due to the rapidly changing software engineering environment and the need to consider, at all levels, who needs to be licensed.