MIRPUR UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (MUST), MIRPUR
DEPARMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Professional Practices
BIT-4802
Lecture [2] : Software Engineering and Professional Issues
Dr. Samina Khalid
(Lecturer)
Date: April 23, 2020
Definitions (taken from lecture-7)
▪ Ethics
▪ the discipline dealing with what is good and bad, and with moral duty and obligation
▪ A set of moral principles or values
▪ A theory or system of moral values.
▪ The principles of conduct governing an individual or a group
▪ Ethical
▪ Of or relating to ethics.
▪ Conforming to accepted professional standards of conduct
▪ Professionalism
▪ The conduct , aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a professional person
▪ .
*Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G.&C. Merriam Co.,1966.
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Today’s Agenda
▪ Introduction to Software Engineering Professional Issues
▪ SWEnet OSE2 Module, June 2003
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Overview
▪ The Software Engineering Profession
▪ Professional Societies
▪ Certification, and Licensing
▪ Software Engineering Education & Training
▪ Ethics and Professional Conduct
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The Software Engineering Profession
▪ Software engineering (SE) as a discipline and profession is relatively young, some even say
“immature”.
▪ In 1996, Ford and Gibbs [6] listed designated eight infrastructure components that can be used to
evaluate a mature profession:
1. – a professional society
2. – initial professional education
3. – skills development
4. – professional development
5. – accreditation
6. – certification
7. – licensing
8. – a code of ethics
▪ In the following slides, we will discuss these elements in relation to the current state of the
software engineering profession.
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Professional Societies
▪ There is no professional society devoted exclusively to software engineering, but
there are two societies which provide mature support for the software engineering
profession:
1. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) (http://www.acm.org/)
▪ Founded in 1947, ACM has 75, 000 members and has the objective of advancing the skills of computing
professionals and students worldwide.
▪ The ACM has 34 “special interest groups” (SIGS). The Special Interest Group on Software Engineering
(SIGSOFT) focuses on issues relating to all aspects of software development and maintenance.
▪ https://www.acm.org/code-of-
ethics#:~:text=The%20Code%20includes%20principles%20formulated,understanding%20and%20applying%20the%20principle.
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Professional Societies
2. IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS) (http://computer.org/)
▪ Founded in 1946, with nearly 100, 000 members, it is the largest of the 36
societies of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
▪ The Computer Society's vision is to be the leading provider of technical
information and services to the world's computing professionals
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Certification and Licensing - 1
▪ Certification is a voluntary process administered by a profession.
▪ Currently there are many certification programs for various computing
technologies:
▪ Many are brand name certifications (e.g. Cisco, Java/Sun, Microsoft, Novell,
etc.) and do not deal with the software engineering profession directly.
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Certification and Licensing - 1
▪ The IEEE-CS offers a certification titled Certified Software Development
Professional (CSDP) [7]. The CSDP has the following components:
▪ At the time of application the candidate holds:
▪ A baccalaureate or equivalent university degree and
▪ Has a minimum of 9,000 hours of software engineering experience within at least six (6)
of the eleven (11) SE knowledge areas (the ten SWEBOK areas [5] and Professionalism
and Engineering Economics).
▪ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_Engineering_Body_of_Knowledge
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Certification and Licensing - 1
▪ The IEEE-CS offers a certification titled Certified Software Development
Professional (CSDP) [7]. The CSDP has the following components:
▪ Candidates are required to subscribe to the Software Engineering Code of
Ethics and Professional Practice [3]
▪ Candidates must pass an exam demonstrating mastery of the knowledge areas
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Certification and Licensing - 2
▪ Licensing is a mandatory process administered by a governmental authority.
▪ In the U.S. licensing is administered at the state level.
▪ Only about 18% of U.S. engineers (civil, electrical, mechanical , etc.) are
registered.
▪ Texas is currently the only state to license software engineers.
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Research Papers
▪ Following Research papers will be discussed in class:
1. Professional Issues in Software Engineering Curricula: Case Studies on Ethical Decision
Making [5]
2. Sustainability in Software Engineering Education: a case of general professional
competencies [6]
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References
1. Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology – home page (http://www.abet.org/)
2. Association of Computing Machinery – home page (http://www.acm.org/)
3. ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Task Force on Software Engineering Ethics and Professional Practices, Software Engineering Code of
Ethics and Professional Practice , Version 5.2, (http://www.acm.org/serving/se/code.htm)
4. Boehm, B., et. al., Position Papers on Software Engineering & Licensing, (http://www.acm.org/serving/se_policy/papers.html)
5. Georgiadou, E. and Oriogun, P.K., 2001, July. Professional issues in software engineering curricula: case studies on ethical
decision making. In Proceedings International Symposium on Technology and Society (pp. 252-261). IEEE.
6. Semerikov, S.O., Striuk, A.M., Striuk, L., Striuk, M. and Shalatska, H.M., 2020. Sustainability in Software Engineering
Education: a case of general professional competencies. In E3S Web of Conferences. The International Conference on
Sustainable Futures: Environmental, Technological, Social and Economic Matters (ICSF 2020) (No. 166, pp. 1-13). EDP
Sciences.
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THANKS
