Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!weyrich!orville
From: orville@weyrich.UUCP (Orville R. Weyrich)
Subject: Re: Accepted Practices
Message-ID: <1991Jun7.163549.1815@weyrich.UUCP>
Reply-To: orville@weyrich.UUCP (Orville R. Weyrich)
Organization: Weyrich Computer Consulting
References: <1991Jun6.125833.18549@dec254.uucp>
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 7 Jun 91 16:35:49 GMT

In article <1991Jun6.125833.18549@dec254.uucp> toolsmit@dec254.uucp (Toolsmith) writes:
>
>People engaged in the other engineering professions also enjoy(?) the legal
>status of professional certification.  Anyone heard of a registered 
>professional software engineer?  The exams for certification seem to me
>to be a means for assessing the engineer's knowledge of accepted practices
>in his/her discipline.
>

I am not a PE, and have seen the exam procedure for PE's, but there is
something in the software world that may be somewhat analagous. There is
an Institute for Certification of Software Professionals that offers
exams and certification as follows:

	CDP -- Certified Data Processor (emphasis on MIS and management)
	CSP -- Certified Systems Professional (emphasis on A/D and S-E)
	CCP -- Certified Computer Programmer (emphasis on scientific or systems
					      programming)
	ACP -- Associate Computer Professional (tests entry-level skills in
					      one of several languages, such
					      as Ada, C, FORTRAN, COBOL, Pascal)

I have ACP and CSP certifications. To date, they have not gotten me a job,
but there is one job that I was told I would have a better chance at if I
had a CDP.

Is there anyone with both a PE and one of {CDP,CSP,CCP} that would care to
comment on how the two relate?

The ICCP member societies include:
	ACM	Association for Computing Machinery
	AIM	Association for Information Management
	ASM	Association for Systems Management
	AWC	Association for Women in Computing
	CIPS	Canadian Information Processing Society
	COMMON	An IBM Computer User's Group
	DPMA	Data Processing Management Association
	HKCS	Hong Kong Computer Society
	IEEE-CS	Computer Society of the IEEE
	ISTE	International Society for Technology in Education

By the way, the ICCP can be contacted at:

	2200 East Devon Avenue, Suite 268
	Des Plaines, IL 60018

	Phone (708) 299-4227

--------------------------------------           ******************************
Orville R. Weyrich, Jr., Ph.D.                   Certified Systems Professional
Internet: orville%weyrich@uunet.uu.net             Weyrich Computer Consulting
Voice:    (602) 391-0821                         POB 5782, Scottsdale, AZ 85261
Fax:      (602) 391-0023                              (Yes! I'm available)
--------------------------------------           ******************************