[jacques_chester]

I basically joined the ACS because it's there and I figured I ought to.

They gave me a post-nominal: CT.

If I want the next grade up -- CP -- I will need to take thousands of dollars of synergising-outside-the-box courses.

Basically the ACS isn't really for software engineers. It's for middle management.

I won't be renewing.

(I might renew my ACM/IEEE memberships).

[ra]

Totally. I've only once heard the ACS mentioned outside of the immigration context, and that was a senior manager in a bank asking why we (his best tech staff) weren't members.

I'm not sure if (Insert nationality here) Computer Societies are as irrelevant in other countries, but in Australia I'm pretty sure it serves no useful role other than in immigration.

So, if that's the case, they have no basis for qualification to determine the merit of an IT skills based residency application.

A self-proclaimed peak body.

[jacques_chester]

Well I wanted to join the IEEE-CS and ACM because those are the legit world leaders. I've harboured that ambition ever since I was a teenager and I read the first edition of Code Complete.

But that too has turned out to be bit of a farce. The real value is in their digital libraries and it is amazing how carefully they segment it to make it hard to get access to anything useful without paying frankly stupid amounts of money.

[jiggy2011]

In Britain we have the British Computer Society. When we were at university they turned up and gave us a talk on the benefits of membership and sold a bunch of us "student memberships", to graduate to full membership IIRC you needed to get a degree and then pass a bunch of extra exams.

Out of all the people I know working professionally in dev/IT I don't think any of them are now BCS members.

I haven't heard of employers asking for it either.

[vidarh]

In 12 years in the UK managing development teams and reviewing hundreds of CV's, I've never once seen the BCS mentioned on CV's or had any candidates mention it.

I did consider membership at one point, and attended a few events, and judging from the people there it seems like they might have a little bit of relevance in pockets of the consultancy industry etc., but otherwise there doesn't seem to be much value in joining. There are some good special interest groups, and affiliated organisations (e.g. ACCU is great if you do much C/C++ stuff), but most of those are open to people who are not BCS members anyway.

I wouldn't ever ask for BCS membership from candidates because I know my own experience, and know the hassle I'd still have to go through to get membership just in order to certify a very basic level of knowledge, so I know I'd exclude a huge proportion of good candidates without getting an assurance that they were fit for the job, and would still have to go through most of the same interview process anyway.

[alexkus]

I work with one (out of 200 odd) person who has bothered with becoming MBCS, so they do exist!

I (Comp Sci B.Sc.) never bothered for many of the above reasons, and I can find better things to spend £100 a year on, but I have bothered with IMA (ima.org.uk) membership after finishing my Maths B.A. because the IMA's magazine is actually quite interesting (and it's only £48 a year).

[buyx]

It's interesting, because just last week I looked up the South African Computer Society, and they too, seem to be fading into obscurity.

There is a role I think, for software developers to organise in some form, to accredit training courses and represent the profession/craft/trade to government.

It seems these old style Computer Societies aren't up to the job and prefer to act as gatekeepers.

[daemin]

I briefly thought about joining the ACS, but really no one that I've worked with has paid for membership (I think one person had won a membership).

In software it is just not needed, especially since a lot of the people I have worked with have other degrees outside the areas of electrical/electronic engineering and computer science.

[beamso]

I never joined. The ACS was not referred to in a positive manner when I was at university.

[haakon666]

If you are a Sysadmin or in a related field, you may want to consider joining SAGE-AU

I'm a Network Engineer and find membership worth while, if only for the mailing list.

http://www.sage-au.org.au/

[zik]

I joined the ACE some years ago for the same reason - because it seemed like a good idea to be a member of a professional organisation.

I also didn't renew after I realised what a joke the ACS really was.

[yitchelle]

When I graduated from University, there was a big push to join IEAust. I thought it was a good idea, but they were really trying to push the engineering profession rather than the actual engineering itself. So I opted out after the first year.

It wasn't cheap either. I remember the fee to be around $700 per year. That was in 2002. And for a graduate, I would rather spend that $700 for something with a better ROI, like rent or food on the table.