[freehunter]

The first step to getting a protected title is forming a trade association. You can't call yourself a lawyer without approval of the Bar Association. You can't call yourself a doctor without approval from the Medical Board. The first step to getting "engineer" as a protected title is forming a society of engineers who can petition the government to legally protect the title.

[hombre_fatal]

Well, there's a difference between "doctor" and putting "MD" after your name just like there's a different between "engineer" and a "PE".

I'd question if anybody really gives a damn if a software developer is certified with some feel-good namesake. Most software just isn't as serious as needing legal counsel or medical expertise.

Also, many of the roads I can think of where we do arrive at a place where people care about some certification are pretty terrifying. Like needing years of schooling before you can legally make a Twitter app for somebody, or needing re-certification to make tiny lateral moves like you need in the medical industry.

[freehunter]

>Most software just isn't as serious as needing legal counsel or medical expertise.

Most legal counsel and medical expertise isn't that serious either. Ask your family doctor how many patients they have every day who come in only to be diagnosed with the common cold, something anyone's grandma could diagnose over the phone and treat with a microwaved can of soup. But when it is serious, you don't want grandma doing your appendix surgery. You want a licensed and trained doctor.

For every one slippery slope argument, there's five "it's not that slippery" counter arguments. You don't need a medical license to buy over-the-counter painkillers, so why would you need a software license to build your own software? You don't need to be a bar-certified lawyer to write your own contracts, so why would you need to be a certified software developer to make a website?

Heck, take plumbers for an example: there are certified, bonded, and insured plumbers. There are plumbers who are not. You can choose a non-certified plumber, but most people would choose the certified plumber instead. If you don't need a certified software engineer, you're not going to pay the premium they would charge with no guarantee of quality. In this world, networking is king and if you don't know someone, you're screwed. If you need certified software, you'd hire certified software engineers and pay the premium and know you at least got someone who has passed their certifications and if they do poor quality work can have their certification revoked.

Considering poorly built software can bankrupt someone, publicly embarrass someone, and can even kill someone, the fact that anyone willing to lie on their resume can build it is scary. You can be reasonably assured that the surgeon operating on you is quality and there are ramifications if they are not. Are you sure that the person who wrote the code for your car's anti-lock brakes or airbags are held to similar standards?