Technical Report CMU/SEI-96-TR-004 ESC-TR-96-004 A Mature Profession of Software Engineering Gary Ford, Norman E. Gibbs January 1996 '*—*"""■""" w*<iiMy1|jrl;tiiiii|»M.ww..> ■»■■WH Ptartfry Carnegie Melion University does not discriminate and Carnegie Mellon University is required not to discriminate in admission, employment, or administration of its programs or activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex or handicap in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 or other federal, state, or local laws or executive orders. In addition, Carnegie Mellon University doos not discriminate in admission, employment or administration of its programs on the basis of religion, creed, ancestry, belief, age, veteran status, sexual orientation or in violation of federal, state, or local laws or executive orders. However, in the judgment of the Carnegie Mellon Human Relations Commission, the Department of Defense policy of, "Don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue," excludes openly gay, lesbian and bisexual students from receiving ROTC scholarships or serving in the military. Nevertheless, all ROTC classes at Carnegie Mellon University are available to ail students. Inquiries concerning application of these statements should be directed to the Provost, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, telephone (412) 268-6684 or the Vice President for Enrollment, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh PA 15213 telephone (412)268-2056. Obtain general information about Carnegie Mellon University by calling (412) 268-2000. Technical Report CMU/SEI-96-TR-004 ESC-TR-96-004 January 1996 A Mature Profession of Software Engineering Gary Ford Norman E. Gibbs Professional Infrastructure Team 19960509 052 Approved for public release Distribution unlimited. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213 This report was prepared for the SEI Joint Program Office HQ ESC/ENS 5 Eglin Street Hanscom AFB, MA 01731-2116 The ideas and findings in this report should not be construed as an official DoD position. It is published in the interest of scientific and technical information exchange. FOR THE COMMANDER Thomas R. Miller, Lt Col, USAF SEI Joint Program Office This work is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense. Copyright © 1996 by Carnegie Mellon University. Requests for permission to reproduce this document or to prepare derivative works of this document should be addressed to the SEI Licensing Agent NO WARRANTY THIS CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY AND SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INSTITUTE MATERIAL IS FURNISHED ON AN "AS-IS" BASIS. CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY MAKES NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AS TO ANY MATTER INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIM- ITED TO, WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR PURPOSE OR MERCHANnBIUTY, EXCLUSIVITY, OR RE- SULTS OBTAINED FROM USE OF THE MATERIAL. CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY DOES NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND WITH RESPECT TO FREEDOM FROM PATENT, TRADE- MARK, OR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. This work was created in the performance of Federal Government Contract Number F19628-95-C-0003 with Car- negie Mellon University for the operation of the Software Engineering Institute, a federally funded research and development center. The Government of the United States has a royalty-free government-purpose license to use, duplicate, or disclose the work, in whole or in part and in any manner, and to have or permit others to do so, for government purposes pursuant to the copyright license under the clause at 52.227-7013. This document is available through Research Access, Inc., 800 Vinial Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15212. Phone: 1-800-685-6510. FAX: (412) 321-2994. RAI also maintains a World Wide Web home page. The URL is http://wwwjai.com Copies of this document are available through the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). For informa- tion on ordering, please contact NTIS directly: National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Com- merce, Springfield, VA 22161. Phone: (703) 487-4600. This document is also available through the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIQ. DTIC provides access to and transfer of scientific and technical information for DoD personnel, DoD contractors and potential contrac- tors, and other U.S. Government agency personnel and their contractors. To obtain a copy, please contact DTIC directly: Defense Technical Information Center, Attn: FDR A, Cameron Station, Alexandria, VA 22304-6145. Phone: (703) 274-7633. Use of any trademarks in this report is not intended in any way to infringe on the rights of the trademark holder. Table of Contents Introduction 1 A Model to Characterize a Mature Profession 3 1.1 Definitions of "Profession" 3 1.2 A Model of a Profession 4 1.3 What Constitutes a Mature Profession? 6 2 Exploring and Validating the Model 10 2.1 Initial Professional Education 10 2.2 Accreditation of Professional Education Programs 11 2.3 Skills Development 12 2.4 Certification 13 2.5 Licensing 14 2.6 Professional Development 15 2.7 Code of Ethics 16 2.8 Professional Society 17 2.9 Conclusions 18 3 The Software Engineering Profession 19 3.1 Initial Professional Education 19 3.2 Accreditation 23 3.3 Skills Development 25 3.4 Certification 27 3.5 Licensing 30 3.6 Professional Development 32 3.7 Code of Ethics 34 3.8 Professional Society 34 3.9 Summary 35 References 37 Appendix 1 Master's Programs in Software Engineering in United States Universities 38 Appendix 2 Undergraduate Software Engineering Programs in the United Kingdom and Australia 39 Appendix 3 Outline of ICCP Software Engineering Examination 40 Appendix 4 Outline of ASQC Certification Examination 42 Appendix 5 Certification as a Condition of Employment 43 Appendix 6 Excerpts from Engineering Licensing Statutes—Purpose of Licensing 44 CMU/SEI-96-TR-004 Appendix 7 Excerpts from Engineering Licensing Statutes—Definitions 46 Appendix 8 Excerpts from Engineering Licensing Statutes—Licensing Requirements 49 Appendix 9 Excerpts from Engineering Licensing Statutes—Exemptions 55 Appendix 10 Excerpts from California Business and Profession Code 57 Appendix 11 New Jersey Software Designers' Licensing Bill 59 Appendix 12 Text of New Jersey ASME Statement 64 Appendix 13 Examples of Licensed Occupations 65 Appendix 14 Oath of Hippocrates 67 Appendix 15 Principles of Medical Ethics 68 Appendix 16 Code of Ethics of the Idaho Bar Association 69 Appendix 17 California Standards of Professional Conduct for Accountants 73 Appendix 18 Model Rules of Professional Conduct of the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying 74 Appendix 19 Pennsylvania Engineers' Code of Ethics 77 Appendix 20 ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct 78 Appendix 21 IEEE Code of Ethics 80 Appendix 22 ICCP Code of Ethics 81 Appendix 23 ICCP Codes of Conduct and Good Practice 82 CMU/SEI-96-TR-004 List of Figures Figure 1.1: Levels and Components of the Model of a Profession 5 Figure 1.2: Infrastructure-Level Components of a Profession 6 Figure 1.3: Examples of Interactions among Components of a Profession 7 List of Tables Table 2.1: Percentage of Licensed Engineering Graduates 15 Table 3.1: Evolution of Components of the Software Engineering Profession 36 Table A14.1: Licensed Occupations Other Than Healing Arts (California) 65 Table A14.2: Licensed Healing Arts Occupations (California) 66 Table A14.3: Occupations Requiring Registration (California) 66 Table A14.4: Occupations Requiring Certificates (California) 66 Table A14.5: Other Regulated Occupations (California) 66 CMU/SEI-96-TR-004 iii 1V CMU/SEI-96-TR-004 A Mature Profession of Software Engineering Abstract: A model is presented that allows the characterization of the maturity of a profession in terms of eight infrastructure components: initial professional education, accreditation, skills development, certification, licensing, professional development, a code of ethics, and a professional society. Several mature profes- sions are examined to provide examples of the nature of these components. The current states of the components of software engineering are described, and predictions are made for the evolution of those components as the profession matures. Introduction Software engineering is a relatively young profession, and almost everyone would con- sider it to be immature. In 1995, the SEI undertook an effort to characterize and model the evolution and maturation of professions in order to understand how the software engineering profession might develop. It was our belief that an appropriate vision of a future, mature profession of software engineering would help guide current activities to accelerate achieving the vision. This report describes that future vision. The report contains three chapters. Chapter 1 defines basic terms (such as "profession") and develops a model by which the maturity of a profession can be characterized. Chapter 2 explores and validates the model by applying it to several common profes- sions. Chapter 3 then uses the model to describe the characteristics of a mature soft- ware engineering profession and suggests how that vision might be achieved. Throughout the report, examples of characteristics of common professions (such as medicine, law, and engineering) are used to suggest how the comparable characteristics of the software engineering profession might evolve. The details of those examples appear in the appendices. CMU/SEI-96-TR-004 CMU/SEI-96-TR-004