Is computing a profession? According to the article published in 2015, computing is not considered a profession because of its teamwork nature and absence of autonomy or self-regulation. The lack of a representative licensing body also means that entry into the field is uncontrolled. On the other hand, we can argue that a profession is an occupation with certain attributes which we see in professional fields like medicine and law. These attributes include: deep technical expertise, an essential societal contribution, and the need to adhere to high ethical and technical standards. I personally believe that computing should be recognized as a profession because it does have the rigorous education and training and responsibility to society that other professions do too. We deserve to have the opportunity to reach higher standards and achieve professionalism through designation.
Different organizations have different approaches and different goals in mind when establishing a code of ethics. Codes can be more specific to a single profession or more of a morality checklist, which I’ll talk about later. In the article by Donald Gotterbarn, An Evolution of Computing’s Codes of Ethics and Professional Conduct, the author talks about different goals and ranks them by the most benefit provided to society. On this list of 6 goals, I think ACM meets the first because of the way it is written, inspiring people to constantly practice doing good to all stakeholders, not just keeping them in mind when going about their daily work.
Doing a quick comparison of the CIPS Code of Ethics and the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct we discussed in class, I found that the ACM was more thorough in defining standards and principles while the CIPS Code was more generic in nature with only its four principles. However, being written by Canada’s Association of Information Technology Professionals, the CIPS Code of Ethics seems more legitimate and to-the-point by avoiding having a “morality checklist” like ACM’s. Another good thing about the CIPS code is that it is that it addresses a greater audience with its imperatives for six different groups of people and also separates the client and the employer to avoid the possibility of conflicting interests.
The ACM code seems very comprehensive with the language that is uses and the rules are more specific, but it starts to include frameworks for computing which narrows down the scope of people it would be relevant to. Another thing to note is that because of how the ACM code is broken down and the topics it mentions, it seems that the main goal of this Code of Ethics was to provide guidance and inspiration for ethical conduct. The CIPS code on the other hand states major responsibilities that members must adhere to.
I personally prefer the ACM code because of how detailed it is and the lengths it goes to to promote creating a positive impact on society in almost each section. Though it may not seem as professional at the CIPS code, it still has a good reputation and seems to put more importance on culture than the CIPS code.
Rumsha Rafi CP373 Blog 