Reply to: Does being a member of the BCS (British computer Society) help you get a contract?

[Xenophon]

Au contraire.
IMHO, a customer could think you were a bolshy contractor if he saw that on a CV.
Don't.

Totally agree.

[Fleetwood]

Au contraire.
IMHO, a customer could think you were a bolshy contractor if he saw that on a CV.
Don't.

[tamper]

what about membership of the PCG? Good for protection and advice, but does being a member make your CV more attractive?

[Churchill]

It could be worse, you could put "Member of ACCU" on your CV and then we could have a real laugh...

[BlasterBates]

The IEE was always bad but it seems to be getting steadily worse.

I actually still get the monthly "rag". The thing that amazes me is that there are still letters about the status of Engineers. I mean who gives a f**.

[thunderlizard]

Of course you pay for it. When your year end profits get worked out you'll find an £85 item in Expenditure and a corresponding lack of £85 in Profit. That means you've paid for it. Tax is neither here nor there.

[Miss Ellie]

It's tax deductable so you don't pay for it.

[DirtyOldMan]

For £85 a year you get -

A monthly glossy magazine full of stuff that nobody really cares about.
Regular email invitations to meetings that nobody really cares about.
A regular e-bulletin full of stuff that's already contained in the monthly glossy magazine.
Membership of an organisation that nobody really cares about except the members.

Worth every penny I'd say !

[cojak]

...errr. Nope.

I'm sure I know people who are members, they just don't publicise it...

[lilelvis2000]

Does it play significant role in this? or do clients not really care..

I just got MBCS membership, and wondered whether clients do actually look for this. Do they even knowwhat it means on a CV !?!?

You mean that snobby sham organisation that puts down all the local IT "professionals" 'coz we haven't got their pride an joy "chartered professional" standing. The one that doesn't do a single thing about the thousands of IT work permits handed out each year - even though there are plenty of under employed and unemployed IT people around. The one that believes that women can be hypnotised into taking an IT degree. If that's the one that you mean..then..uhhh No.

[wendigo100]

They are the ultimate snoot. I never bothered to upgrade my student membership.

I couldn't agree more. I lapsed 10 years ago.

1. Their ideas were always 10 years out of date (PCs were "toys" and didn't form part of a serious IT strategy).

2. I spoke to a Fellow of the BCS in Scotland, and got a half-hour lecture on how elite he and his fellow Fellows were.

3. I was interviewed by a BCS board for some sort of membership upgrade, and despite having been an IT tech author for five years, all they wanted to ask questions about was a two-week analysis job I did in my spare time about four years earlier. Tech writing obviously didn't show up on the BCS radar. That's when I decided to lapse.

Since then I've never known anyone who was remotely interested in whether I was in the BCS or not, or even what it is.

[TheMonkey]

Are the BCS as snooty as the IEE? (now the IET).

They are the ultimate snoot. I never bothered to upgrade my student membership.

[thunderlizard]

Snooty

They let me in, so I'd say not.

[AttitudeAdjuster]

Well, I too wondered about this and my conclusion was that those who matter (IE the agents) know SFA about those post nominals so the client never gets to see them anyway! And the BCS site says

'By joining BCS you will be able to enhance your professional status and show to future employers or clients that you have a strong commitment to your profession.'

Yea right as if anyone cared about that. I was also a member of the IEE (MIEE) but I let that membership lapse as that is even more obscure to the typical IT client (not of course in my original area of hardware/realtime but thats another story). So I am now only in the BCS (MBCS) and plug that for all its worth!

[TheMonkey]

Can someone explain all the abbreviations.

I have a BEng/EMETk Hons and I don't even know what that stands for.