IT Professional Membership

[RichardCranium]

Prompted by discussions about professionalism, should it apply to IT contractors?

1-6. What professional memberships do you have?
7. Do you think it it is good for contractors to have them?
8. Should employers be aware of such things and use them in selection & recruitment?
9. I do not believe in any of this old toffee
10. That too.


MBCS/FBCS = Member/Fellow of the British Computer Society
Has a Code of Good Practice and a Code of Conduct.

CITP = Chartered IT Professional
"The gold standard" in the UK for IT bods. You have to prove yourself to attain it.

MIAP/FIAP = Member/Fellow of the Institution of Analysts & Programmers
Has a Code of Conduct.

PCG = Professional Contractors Group
A trade body, not a professional body, despite what they are called.

[HairyArsedBloke]

We’ve had this discussion before. I’m not a full-time techie any more, but I disagree that it is a profession. I believe that it is more along the lines of craft than a profession. Furthermore, that is something to be proud of. Establishment of software/IT/whatever craftsman’s guild would be a very fine thing indeed. It would get far more respect than trying to form a ‘professional’ body along the same lines as lawyers, doctors, the clergy etc.

[TykeMerc]

MAPM - Member of the Association for Project Management, providing things go to plan Chartered status is on the way.

As a techie I considered the BCS and IEE, but tbh it felt pretty meaningless.

[RichardCranium]

MAPM - Member of the Association for Project Management, providing things go to plan Chartered status is on the way.

As a techie I considered the BCS and IEE, but tbh it felt pretty meaningless.

Do you think the APM is relevant to IT project managers? I don't mean the qualifications, I mean the membership of the APM. It looked like it had a construction industry / manufacturing focus when I enquired a while back.

[Pickle2]

MAPM - Member of the Association for Project Management, providing things go to plan Chartered status is on the way.

Intentional gag?

[TykeMerc]

Intentional gag?

Of course !!!!

Obviously the APM isn't industry centric or it couldn't try to be a professional body aiming for Chartered status. It's no more oriented to construction than it is to IT.
The last branch meeting I attended there were 3 aerospace engineering PM's, 4 IT PM's and a bloke who does projects for a gas exploration company.

I'm not convinced that professional body status carries all that much weight as an IT tech compared to industry qualifications like MCSE, CCNE etc (sorry I can never remember the programmers ones), and those are only a foot in the door. I've worked with just as many utterly useless highly qualified people as those without a piece of paper to their name.