Call for a Professional Programmers' Association
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What a disgusting premise! The computing industry has been a major boom because people can get into it and develop what their imaginations can create. Stifling this with BS licenses and then ensuing regulatory legislation that would not be far behind would slam the brakes on this. What a ridiculous comment that people using higher level programming languages aren't programmers - such a narrow point of view. Do you really need to dig into the depths of C to write a front end application heavy in reporting functions? With your experience you should know and see that certain languages are better suited for different tasks. This kind of elitist mindset is one good reason for not having certifications and regulations. Any manager worth their salt who is in charge of hiring can cipher out a skilled programmer vs a newbie or someone that knows enough to "look" good - but are not capable of the job at hand - and "technical currency" can then be determined. If they are a junior level programmer - then pay them as such - and pay a senior level programmer accordingly. Experience and actual knowledge do matter - but a license DOES NOT guarantee the quality of either of these. I have spent the last few years substantially remodeling my house. I have studied local and state building code, building standards for residential building code, electrical/plumbing codes, studied architectural and structural engineering, etc... to make sure it is done right. What I have learned is that MANY of the local builders who are certified/licensed in many cases don't know what they are doing and/or are intentionally doing poor work. I see their projects, in progress and completed, and can point out the flaws with will cause problems in the short and/or long term - yet they are licensed and I am not. My wife is a teacher - requiring college degrees, licensing, passing of licensing tests, etc... and we could both write you a book on the stupidity that manages to make its way into the classroom. Licensing only puts barriers in the way for those interested in going into the field and eliminates great talent that will go in another direction instead of hopping though the red tape hoops. Sure you may filter low quality programmers out - but at such great expenses. Protected industries are insane and should be abolished across this county/world. An look at the education system. I have reviewed so many Computer Science degrees from multiple colleges where the amount of programming, the level of difficulty, and real world use is abysmal. I
Very pertinent answer, I think (I can't give 2 upvotes...). As a medical "specialist" I can only agree with you that self-learning values the most, we must all have licenses (in order to practice). As a self-taught "developer" I can say the same thing. Freedom is the key for any developer/creator/inventor. Checking and/or testing is the key for any user/client, starting by not clicking on any "Download Here" link on any obscure page.
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Did I say license?
Gus Gustafson
Certification with an argument for imposing consequences sounds like licensing to me or already close to the next step to get there. It's a moving line. Open the door, and the next person fights for the next step. Doesn't answer my concerns and points in any case. Plus - there are certifications for software development/software engineering - I suppose you just don't like them? Maybe for some of the reasons I point out?
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Programming is the most intellectually stimulating activity that I have ever performed. It is not so much the making of things from nothing as it is the satisfaction that comes when I have created a thing of intellectual beauty. To me programming is a combination of art and science. And, in programming, technical competency goes hand in hand with technical currency. So that you understand from whence I come I would like to introduce you to what I have done during my career, and what I continue to do in a more relaxed environment: I wrote stand alone multi-threaded client/server systems; graphics software and effective user interfaces to complex scientific and engineering applications; real-time and embedded system software and firmware; and communications system software. I continue to be fluent in multiple computer programming languages (e.g., C#, C, Ada, FORTRAN, COBOL, and Pascal). I have programmed within Windows, UNIX, Linux, VxWorks, as well as others too old and long ago to mention. What bothers me about programming today is the number of people who claim to be programmers but who are not. These wannabes claim to be programmers but when you look at a wannabe's accomplishments, they usually include applications that are written in a macro language (such as VBA) and that are usually trivial and unfocused. We need a word to describe this class of people who are intelligent enough to pretend to program without actually programming. In many other career paths, they would be called apprentices. Let me define what I did in unambiguous terms. I was a professional production programmer who wrote computer software for money paid by someone who would probably not use the software. I firmly believe that programmers should be held accountable for their mistakes (witness the Boeing 737 Max disasters). I am convinced that the only solution to this problem is the certification of programmers by a vendor-independent organization. Although Code Project has indicated that it is opposed to such a certification organization, I believe that the arguments offered were specious. My question is simply "Doesn't the programmer who wrote the software that caused some type of catastrophe share the responsibility for the disaster?" It is for this reason that certification is required. Once such an organization is in place, companies that do not wish to share the blame for a software based disaster can hire a certified professional. The certified professional should then use certified journeymen and certified apprentices to d
While I agree with your reasoning (it astounds me what calls itself a programmer these days), collective bargaining is not the answer - and that's one of the undesired outcomes of becoming part of a professional association. I know what I'm talking about. In the early 90s (yeah, before you looked up stuff on the internet) I was an up-and-coming Ada programmer with General Electric. Whether I wanted to be or not I was represented by ASPEP (Association of Scientific and Professional Engineering Personnel). Apart from the monthly sub-par (free!) Prime Rib dinner to discuss... whatever, there was nothing positive about the experience unless you were the sort to not really apply ones-self. ANY kind of reward system is GONE! Everybody gets a raise, so no one gets a decent raise. Management tends to love this because you can't appeal to them directly or you get something like "Sorry, the union says blah blah blah, and there is nothing I can do about it." or "You know, if it were up to me I'd give you a huge raise, you deserve it, but the union...". I can see you have the best of intentions and you didn't explicitly use the term "union" but that's what "professional associations" inevitably become. Then they become an organism whose sole drive is to exist and procreate. I've been there and there is no "union" in ASPEP either. Vote No!
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What a disgusting premise! The computing industry has been a major boom because people can get into it and develop what their imaginations can create. Stifling this with BS licenses and then ensuing regulatory legislation that would not be far behind would slam the brakes on this. What a ridiculous comment that people using higher level programming languages aren't programmers - such a narrow point of view. Do you really need to dig into the depths of C to write a front end application heavy in reporting functions? With your experience you should know and see that certain languages are better suited for different tasks. This kind of elitist mindset is one good reason for not having certifications and regulations. Any manager worth their salt who is in charge of hiring can cipher out a skilled programmer vs a newbie or someone that knows enough to "look" good - but are not capable of the job at hand - and "technical currency" can then be determined. If they are a junior level programmer - then pay them as such - and pay a senior level programmer accordingly. Experience and actual knowledge do matter - but a license DOES NOT guarantee the quality of either of these. I have spent the last few years substantially remodeling my house. I have studied local and state building code, building standards for residential building code, electrical/plumbing codes, studied architectural and structural engineering, etc... to make sure it is done right. What I have learned is that MANY of the local builders who are certified/licensed in many cases don't know what they are doing and/or are intentionally doing poor work. I see their projects, in progress and completed, and can point out the flaws with will cause problems in the short and/or long term - yet they are licensed and I am not. My wife is a teacher - requiring college degrees, licensing, passing of licensing tests, etc... and we could both write you a book on the stupidity that manages to make its way into the classroom. Licensing only puts barriers in the way for those interested in going into the field and eliminates great talent that will go in another direction instead of hopping though the red tape hoops. Sure you may filter low quality programmers out - but at such great expenses. Protected industries are insane and should be abolished across this county/world. An look at the education system. I have reviewed so many Computer Science degrees from multiple colleges where the amount of programming, the level of difficulty, and real world use is abysmal. I
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I have reviewed so many Computer Science degrees from multiple colleges where the amount of programming, the level of difficulty, and real world use is abysmal.
I think you proved his point.
The Master said, 'Am I indeed possessed of knowledge? I am not knowing. But if a mean person, who appears quite empty-like, ask anything of me, I set it forth from one end to the other, and exhaust it.' ― Confucian Analects
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I have no problem erecting barriers to entry into the programming workspace. I have seen the junk code produced by incompetent "programmers" who are only interested in the paycheck and who work for managers for whom the bottom-line is the only measurement of success.
Gus Gustafson
I see no barriers to "programming". I see a barrier to B.S. And there's nothing wrong with a "code of ethics".
The Master said, 'Am I indeed possessed of knowledge? I am not knowing. But if a mean person, who appears quite empty-like, ask anything of me, I set it forth from one end to the other, and exhaust it.' ― Confucian Analects
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What bothers me about programming today is the number of people who claim to be programmers but who are not. These wannabes claim to be programmers but when you look at a wannabe's accomplishments, they usually include applications that are written in a macro language (such as VBA) and that are usually trivial and unfocused. We need a word to describe this class of people who are intelligent enough to pretend to program without actually programming. In many other career paths, they would be called apprentices.
Can we look at a programmer as someone who breaks a given task into steps and instructions for a computer to follow? How big a program does it have to be to make a programmer? I don't have quite your years, but VBA and xbase (Clipper & FoxPro) before, have been good to me. I have an MS Access database with ~20 users that has been working for ~20 years now. We have code at so many layers, imbedded systems to UI candy. Is writing SQL, coding? RegEx, does that count?
If you can actually produce something useful, with a "minimum" of defects, that someone else can maintain, then I think you can call yourself a programmer; regardless of the platform. That does not (automatically) qualify you to program a pace maker or a flight control system with all the IF's and ELSE's. "Developing" is not the same as programming (or "coding"). I am a software "developer".
The Master said, 'Am I indeed possessed of knowledge? I am not knowing. But if a mean person, who appears quite empty-like, ask anything of me, I set it forth from one end to the other, and exhaust it.' ― Confucian Analects
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I have no problem erecting barriers to entry into the programming workspace. I have seen the junk code produced by incompetent "programmers" who are only interested in the paycheck and who work for managers for whom the bottom-line is the only measurement of success.
Gus Gustafson
How does a certification erect a barrier to entry into the programming workspace - wouldn't that be the function of a license vs a certification? And two, who are you are to tell business who they should ignore, who they should hire, or what standards they should be looking for - you are very linear here. I get your point about what you have an issue with - but why is it your call? People do have different reasons for why they hire - and you seem content to put them into a box. What if they are a small startup and they can't afford senior developers - but have a new idea of a solution that they way to put out. Maybe they need a functional beta to get more venture capital to justify hiring better developers. It's not black or white. If you have your own business - then you set your own hiring practices. If your competitions hires incompetents - they will fail, you will succeed and they will go away. Free markets - you know...
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Somewhere along the line the concept of certification became embedded. I do not espouse certification. Rather I espouse something more in the line of an apprentice-journeyman-master approach - like blacksmiths who also create something out of a simple piece of iron. To the younger programmers who object remember: you maybe earning $90K today but there is always someone coming out of college who can do your job for $75K. And guess who management hires? You have no protection! You have no one looking out for your interests!
Gus Gustafson
And if that person coming out of college can actually do the SAME job at $75k - they why should your employer pay you $90k? They pay you $90K because you have more experience - are presumably faster at getting a complex project done and able to develop solutions that the newbie can't because they simply don't have the experience - not because you are a familiar fixture in the office. If your employer cannot see that - do you want to work for them? Should you maybe be looking for another job - or maybe branching out on your own? This is common to most any job. I have done IT work for decades. I can track down and resolve issues faster than newbies that don't have the same level of experience. When I have had customers or employers that couldn't understand that - I moved on. Yes - you can 'fire' your customers too ;)
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How does a certification erect a barrier to entry into the programming workspace - wouldn't that be the function of a license vs a certification? And two, who are you are to tell business who they should ignore, who they should hire, or what standards they should be looking for - you are very linear here. I get your point about what you have an issue with - but why is it your call? People do have different reasons for why they hire - and you seem content to put them into a box. What if they are a small startup and they can't afford senior developers - but have a new idea of a solution that they way to put out. Maybe they need a functional beta to get more venture capital to justify hiring better developers. It's not black or white. If you have your own business - then you set your own hiring practices. If your competitions hires incompetents - they will fail, you will succeed and they will go away. Free markets - you know...
You're assuming "senior developers" are expensive. If I can't stand the job, pay is irrelevant. I see (some kind of cert) as protecting the "consumer" (not the developer). Certs are NOT a problem for "cheap customers". I say the opposite: it helps in some way to narrow the field when you're shopping. My customers have been "lucky" because they had no IT department; no one to second-guess me. I delivered the goods because that's who I am, even though most had no clue who and what they were getting involved with. Yes, some "cred" would make them feel a little easier ... even when there's not a lot of money at stake. But in the end, it will make no difference because "users don't know what you don't know". But at least "I know what I know" (and what I didn't). And certification, in my experience, is not about reciting some obscure op codes. It's also about problem-solving, managing, risk assessment, thinking ... you know: "soft" skills.
The Master said, 'Am I indeed possessed of knowledge? I am not knowing. But if a mean person, who appears quite empty-like, ask anything of me, I set it forth from one end to the other, and exhaust it.' ― Confucian Analects
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I have reviewed so many Computer Science degrees from multiple colleges where the amount of programming, the level of difficulty, and real world use is abysmal.
I think you proved his point.
The Master said, 'Am I indeed possessed of knowledge? I am not knowing. But if a mean person, who appears quite empty-like, ask anything of me, I set it forth from one end to the other, and exhaust it.' ― Confucian Analects
I never said I disagree that there are too many 'programmers' out there that don't what the heck they are doing. I also made the point the many of the PhD experts our there don't have a clue either. Who do you think will head up this organization? Elitists that have a clue too many time. I tried to explain this to my young adult son who likes the idea of permits and oversight. He thinks (as many do) that this protects the interests of the individual. No. It makes the individual ignorant and gives them reason to relegate the responsibility to know about the issue at hand to the 'expert'. How many people know how to properly build a house, run electrical, etc...? It's all regulated, licensed, etc... So people get complacent and simply assume that the 'professional' doing the work for them will do it professionally. Or, that the inspectors are actually doing a real inspection based on their own 'professional' knowledge. It's all smoke and mirrors and in the end a money scheme. Again, any competent professional manager can get this out of applicants for their programming staff and they would be negligent if they only gave credence to a certification or license. But, the tendency will be for them to do just that. In the case of customers - learn about it so they can make an educated choice - or have their own trusted IT source help them - but again - they should not simply hire a programmer under contract or a company with a programming staff blindly and taking certifications as the end all.
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If you can actually produce something useful, with a "minimum" of defects, that someone else can maintain, then I think you can call yourself a programmer; regardless of the platform. That does not (automatically) qualify you to program a pace maker or a flight control system with all the IF's and ELSE's. "Developing" is not the same as programming (or "coding"). I am a software "developer".
The Master said, 'Am I indeed possessed of knowledge? I am not knowing. But if a mean person, who appears quite empty-like, ask anything of me, I set it forth from one end to the other, and exhaust it.' ― Confucian Analects
These are self imposed titles. A programmer is a programmer is a programmer. You can claim developer is better but a programmer is a developer is a programmer. Same thing. As much as the OP wants it to be engineer, or whatever. I have programmed for years on my own. Never employed as a programmer - but I am proficient enough that I am not really concerned about what language you'd like me to use (unless some technical specification makes in insane to make it work). I've gotten to a point a long time ago that it's just translation and what pre-exiting functions/classes/etc.. you have to work with. But, I also have a wide variety of knowledge to bring to the table that many programmers don't. Such as - my high end background in IT and business systems gives me a lot of knowledge about operating systems, servers (web/mail/database/routing/etc), security models, networking/network security, database design/implementation/security/tuning, accounting systems, double entry bookkeeping and accounting, tax code, legal issues (business, government, etc). Many computer languages: direct hex editing; various assemblers, COBOL, BASICs, PASCALs, Cs, C++s, SQLs, DDLs, VB(DOS)/VB(Windows)/VB.NET, C#, Java, JavaScript, VBScript, HTML, CSS, XML, etc., etc. and I've programed across many of these boundaries. Currently writing a billing system for a County Government using C#, Azure SQL Server, with some web components. Also, a mostly finished custom air handler control system using RaspberryPi with Python, MQTT, as well as designing the circuit board and components for a small datacenter I own and run. However - don't worry about keeping all the code locked in my head. I know what I want to do - the general structure that I need to develop, the security concerns, the bookkeeping side of it all, the web server and security side of it all and I simply look up what I don't recall (which is a lot - specific syntax, data types, even finding the commands/classes/etc... that I want to utilize. Makes me a bit slower - but there's very little I can't develop. I even wrote 3D graphics rotation systems back in the early 80's on my Apple II - and my own multi-language complier. BUT - I doubt I would pass a programmer certification test - as they are typically very specific in what they want you to know off the top of your head - like about some language syntax or command use. Who cares - look it up. That's what the docs are for - and google ;) But - should I be an apprentice? Or be excluded for working for a business as a programmer/coder/wh
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I agree with you in that software for critical missions or services should be verified and/or certified by competent developers, but (no offense intended) an aspirin is - compared to the medical arsenal - what a MS-DOS .BAT file is for software development. Are there only small tools to be left to "power users"? A "professional association" model would not push companies to distribute programming tools only to "certified" developers and then, in a positive reaction of some kind, few and few will become computer-programming-literates and the liberty of thinking (and inventing things) will suffer? Oh, but there's the Open Source ... May I ask what do you think about it? What should be done with the huge code-sharing resources available or, more general, with "the" Open Source? There are, I think, critical applications based upon (sites hosted with Apache Web Server, ...). Someone working as non-professional developer should not get payed for his/her knowledge/effort (I didn't write "expertise" as I'm talking about a non-professional). Or a model like ActiveState or RedHat - where a community of developers makes software that the company selects and certifies - would be more acceptable?
As you must be well aware, there are a whole range of medical professionals, from medics and paramedics, to nurses, to LNPs, to general practitioners, to specialist medical doctors. There are many spaces between taking an aspirin and performing brain surgery. I would not be in favor of, nor would it even be possible, to limit the availability of development tools to only the most specialized software developers. People would still be free to learn and to tinker. I think software written by uncertified developers should even be allowed for sale, as long as this was disclosed, though you could make me believe that certain kinds of software should only be produced for sale by certified developers and organizations. I think liability for defective software should become an important part of this future. But I think that people who give software away for free, and disclose that it was done by uncertified developers could be made immune. Then developers of software for sale and users of free software would have to think clearly about whether open-source code was of good quality. If so, then including it would be OK. If not... maybe they should find the code somewhere else. Hopefully standards of care would become embedded in the liability law, and things wouldn't really be too much different than they are today. One might even make a business around uncertified software as long as the software was given away.
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You're assuming "senior developers" are expensive. If I can't stand the job, pay is irrelevant. I see (some kind of cert) as protecting the "consumer" (not the developer). Certs are NOT a problem for "cheap customers". I say the opposite: it helps in some way to narrow the field when you're shopping. My customers have been "lucky" because they had no IT department; no one to second-guess me. I delivered the goods because that's who I am, even though most had no clue who and what they were getting involved with. Yes, some "cred" would make them feel a little easier ... even when there's not a lot of money at stake. But in the end, it will make no difference because "users don't know what you don't know". But at least "I know what I know" (and what I didn't). And certification, in my experience, is not about reciting some obscure op codes. It's also about problem-solving, managing, risk assessment, thinking ... you know: "soft" skills.
The Master said, 'Am I indeed possessed of knowledge? I am not knowing. But if a mean person, who appears quite empty-like, ask anything of me, I set it forth from one end to the other, and exhaust it.' ― Confucian Analects
Generally 'senior developers' are more expensive. I think you misunderstood - or I didn't say it well - but I don't believe 'Certs' protect anyone - especially the customer. I believe it gives them a feeling of false security that leads them to abdicate their own responsibility to look into the topic enough on their own to be able to ask smart questions and to have proper expectations of an employee or a contractor - which too often leads to bad ends. There are too many people with degrees, certifications, licenses, whatever - that do not truly have the skillset to do what they claim. So long as these titles carry weight - people will not take the responsibility to make sure they can actually do the job. The 'title' says it all for them - or at least too much. The employer or customer hiring a contractor - whether it is programming, IT, house repairs, etc... needs to be competent enough on the subject at hand to know what seems legit, to have an idea when things are going sideways, and what to do when and if that happens, how to setup internal policies for firing and/or when to break the contract and move on, etc...
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What bothers me about programming today is the number of people who claim to be programmers but who are not. These wannabes claim to be programmers but when you look at a wannabe's accomplishments, they usually include applications that are written in a macro language (such as VBA) and that are usually trivial and unfocused. We need a word to describe this class of people who are intelligent enough to pretend to program without actually programming. In many other career paths, they would be called apprentices.
Can we look at a programmer as someone who breaks a given task into steps and instructions for a computer to follow? How big a program does it have to be to make a programmer? I don't have quite your years, but VBA and xbase (Clipper & FoxPro) before, have been good to me. I have an MS Access database with ~20 users that has been working for ~20 years now. We have code at so many layers, imbedded systems to UI candy. Is writing SQL, coding? RegEx, does that count?
I never intended that professional programmers (i.e.,those who are paid) who use VBA ever think that I am putting them down. VBA is a language that, in the hands of a knowledgeable programmer, can do magic with a spreadsheet. When I used VBA in my complaint about wannabes, I was using an example. I could have used PHP. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Regards,
Gus Gustafson
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While I agree with your reasoning (it astounds me what calls itself a programmer these days), collective bargaining is not the answer - and that's one of the undesired outcomes of becoming part of a professional association. I know what I'm talking about. In the early 90s (yeah, before you looked up stuff on the internet) I was an up-and-coming Ada programmer with General Electric. Whether I wanted to be or not I was represented by ASPEP (Association of Scientific and Professional Engineering Personnel). Apart from the monthly sub-par (free!) Prime Rib dinner to discuss... whatever, there was nothing positive about the experience unless you were the sort to not really apply ones-self. ANY kind of reward system is GONE! Everybody gets a raise, so no one gets a decent raise. Management tends to love this because you can't appeal to them directly or you get something like "Sorry, the union says blah blah blah, and there is nothing I can do about it." or "You know, if it were up to me I'd give you a huge raise, you deserve it, but the union...". I can see you have the best of intentions and you didn't explicitly use the term "union" but that's what "professional associations" inevitably become. Then they become an organism whose sole drive is to exist and procreate. I've been there and there is no "union" in ASPEP either. Vote No!
Collective bargaining was never intended. A Code of Ethics; monetary benefits (retirement, insurance, health care, etc.), legal assistance, mediation, etc. was what I had in mind. But the original post was a call for not a proposal for (as noted by another reply-er much work would have to go into the organizing and publicizing) As an aside, I've been looking up stuff on the "internet" since the early 70's. Only it was called ARPANET. Regards,
Gus Gustafson
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If you can actually produce something useful, with a "minimum" of defects, that someone else can maintain, then I think you can call yourself a programmer; regardless of the platform. That does not (automatically) qualify you to program a pace maker or a flight control system with all the IF's and ELSE's. "Developing" is not the same as programming (or "coding"). I am a software "developer".
The Master said, 'Am I indeed possessed of knowledge? I am not knowing. But if a mean person, who appears quite empty-like, ask anything of me, I set it forth from one end to the other, and exhaust it.' ― Confucian Analects
Many years ago, at a social event, I was introduced to an attractive woman. She asked me what I did for a living and I responded that I was a "software developer". She then asked me some questions and when I could not answer any to her satisfaction, she said that I couldn't be a very good software developer. After further discussion, I found that software, in her mind was clothing. Since then I always reply "computer software developer".
Gus Gustafson
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I never intended that professional programmers (i.e.,those who are paid) who use VBA ever think that I am putting them down. VBA is a language that, in the hands of a knowledgeable programmer, can do magic with a spreadsheet. When I used VBA in my complaint about wannabes, I was using an example. I could have used PHP. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Regards,
Gus Gustafson
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What bothers me about programming today is the number of people who claim to be programmers but who are not. These wannabes claim to be programmers but when you look at a wannabe's accomplishments, they usually include applications that are written in a macro language (such as VBA) and that are usually trivial and unfocused. We need a word to describe this class of people who are intelligent enough to pretend to program without actually programming. In many other career paths, they would be called apprentices.
Can we look at a programmer as someone who breaks a given task into steps and instructions for a computer to follow? How big a program does it have to be to make a programmer? I don't have quite your years, but VBA and xbase (Clipper & FoxPro) before, have been good to me. I have an MS Access database with ~20 users that has been working for ~20 years now. We have code at so many layers, imbedded systems to UI candy. Is writing SQL, coding? RegEx, does that count?
Please see my reply to Andrew L. Meador, below. Regards,
Gus Gustafson
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Collective bargaining was never intended. A Code of Ethics; monetary benefits (retirement, insurance, health care, etc.), legal assistance, mediation, etc. was what I had in mind. But the original post was a call for not a proposal for (as noted by another reply-er much work would have to go into the organizing and publicizing) As an aside, I've been looking up stuff on the "internet" since the early 70's. Only it was called ARPANET. Regards,
Gus Gustafson
I intended to mention previously that I agree with you on goals, 100%. But these things get out of hand. The next thing you know the guy who barely phones it in is being promoted just because he's been there too long or you're on strike because there isn't enough tartar sauce to cover the mandated 7 fish sticks for lunch in the cafeteria. And who doesn't like a little on their chips as well... I only want to emphasize caution because I was part of a system that was too old and established to be changed or removed. To say that no one worth their salt was for it would be unfair because I worked with some truly exceptional software engineers who thought it was a fine idea. But it left me with the impression that there were limits to where my hard work could take me. To your aside, perhaps I should have use the term "world wide web", but ARPANET, man you are older than me!
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Programming is the most intellectually stimulating activity that I have ever performed. It is not so much the making of things from nothing as it is the satisfaction that comes when I have created a thing of intellectual beauty. To me programming is a combination of art and science. And, in programming, technical competency goes hand in hand with technical currency. So that you understand from whence I come I would like to introduce you to what I have done during my career, and what I continue to do in a more relaxed environment: I wrote stand alone multi-threaded client/server systems; graphics software and effective user interfaces to complex scientific and engineering applications; real-time and embedded system software and firmware; and communications system software. I continue to be fluent in multiple computer programming languages (e.g., C#, C, Ada, FORTRAN, COBOL, and Pascal). I have programmed within Windows, UNIX, Linux, VxWorks, as well as others too old and long ago to mention. What bothers me about programming today is the number of people who claim to be programmers but who are not. These wannabes claim to be programmers but when you look at a wannabe's accomplishments, they usually include applications that are written in a macro language (such as VBA) and that are usually trivial and unfocused. We need a word to describe this class of people who are intelligent enough to pretend to program without actually programming. In many other career paths, they would be called apprentices. Let me define what I did in unambiguous terms. I was a professional production programmer who wrote computer software for money paid by someone who would probably not use the software. I firmly believe that programmers should be held accountable for their mistakes (witness the Boeing 737 Max disasters). I am convinced that the only solution to this problem is the certification of programmers by a vendor-independent organization. Although Code Project has indicated that it is opposed to such a certification organization, I believe that the arguments offered were specious. My question is simply "Doesn't the programmer who wrote the software that caused some type of catastrophe share the responsibility for the disaster?" It is for this reason that certification is required. Once such an organization is in place, companies that do not wish to share the blame for a software based disaster can hire a certified professional. The certified professional should then use certified journeymen and certified apprentices to d
I believe the call is raising a very important concern. While it is true that fault can come from management, but a programmer sitting on a desk may not have the right defense to say 'no' to things that he or she is asked to certain things which do not necessarily is ethical. An association could also make a programmer stronger so that he/she can defend in reference to ethical standards set by the professional association and with the existence of such association, programmers may not be proactively working on the 'unethical' things within the software. Uncle (Bob) Martin would also agree as he has been talking about a need for professionalism for some time now. HEre is the link about Uncle (Bob) Martin's call for professionalism Robert C. Martin (Uncle Bob) - Demanding Professionalism in Software Development – Zaneta Baran[^]