Achieving a World-Wide Software Engineering Profession: A Report on the CSEET 2001 Workshop

Abstract

The prime aim of the workshop was to provide a forum to consider the global dimensions of a Software Engineering profession and determine the relevance and usefulness of an initiative concerning the harmonization of professional standards which had been produced under the auspices of the International Federation of Information Processing. In particular the workshop addressed: the current situation with regard to certification and/or licensing in different countries, the drivers and constraints regarding Software Engineering Professionalism, the extent to which world-wide Software Engineering Professionalism is achievable (particularly in the light of IFIP's proposals regarding harmonization), and possible strategy(ies) that would assist in achieving such world-wide Software Engineering Professionalism. A pre workshop survey was carried out at the conference and the results of this are reported. The two staged operation and results of the workshop are then detailed. Initial position statements are summarised and the conclusions from the four separate subgroups that operated within each of the two stages are reported. Finally the major points from a general discussion on what the future goals and strategies for achieving a recognised profession should be are presented followed by the overall conclusion of the workshop participants.