All,
I have a recording of the meeting which I will transcribe later today - I
couldn't sit down at the meeting to live-transcribe, as I arrived late due
to the WiAC BoF running over.
In the meantime, for those who did not attend, Will provided a handout at
the meeting, with an excellent summary of questions and definitions, and a
link to a bunch of relevant discussions on the topic, links extracted by
subject, and members who participated in the previous discussions.
“Systems Administration: From Occupation to Professional” BoF – LISA ‘13
“System Administration has remained, for many, an introverted gaming
occupation. Now it needs to become a more disciplined engineering
profession.” - Mark Burgess, ;login: April 2013 pp.6-7 (our emphasis)
Is the field of Systems Administration (IT Operations, DevOps, etc.etc.) a
Occupation?
Trade?
Profession?
Occupation definition:
Dictionary: “a person's usual or principal work or business,
especially as a means of earning a living; vocation: Her occupation was
dentistry.”
Trade definition:
Dictionary: “some line of skilled manual or mechanical work; craft:
the trade of a carpenter; printer's trade.”
Profession[al] definition:
Dictionary: “a vocation requiring knowledge of some department of
learning or science: the profession of teaching.”
Profession characteristics:
1. From “THE INFORMATION SYSTEMS PROFESSION: MYTH OR REALITY?” Orlikowski
and Baroudi, NYU, 1988, p.4
a. Defining specialized skills and training,
b. forming professional associations,
c. setting minimum fees,
d. developing a code of ethics, and
e. instituting peer control over practice.
2. From “CREATING A PROFESSION AND A BODY OF KNOWLEDGE FOR PRODUCT
SUPPORTABILITY ENGINEERING AT HIGH-TECH COMPANIES” L. Cox, CSU, 2010, p.5
a. a body of knowledge,
b. ethical guidelines, and
c. a professional organization with a growing set of published papers
and best practices
3. From “PROFESSIONALIZING THE NATION’S CYBERSECURITY WORKFORCE? CRITERIA
FOR DECISION-MAKING”, National Research Council, 2013, p.14
a. Passing a knowledge and/or performance test,
b. superior completion of study of intellectual basis of the
profession,
c. a sustained period of mentored experience / apprenticeship,
d. continuing education,
e. licensing by a formal authority, and
f. ethical standards of behavior with enforcement, including removal
from profession.
Compendium of relevant discussions from LOPSA-discuss list, extracted links
from discussions, and discussion members: http://goo.gl/NSCpsX
On Sun, Nov 10, 2013 at 11:10 AM, Craig Cook <[email protected]> wrote:
> *Systems Administration - From Occupation to Professional*
> Will Dennis, *LOPSA Member*
> Thursday, November 7, 9:00 – 10:00 p.m., Hoover A discussion on what
> professionalization (the act of a person becoming professional) would look
> like for the field of Systems Administration (*Ops, etc) and what steps
> LOPSA/LISA could take to support this
>
> Random notes from the meeting:
>
> (Overall, I got the impression that creating a "profession" for System
> Administration is a good thing. Exactly how that is done is still open to
> debate. There seemed to be agreement that a "Body of Knowledge" should be
> created. Also debatable how that can be accomplished)
>
> Just because you are a LOPSA member does not mean you would want to hire
> them. It means that person has a minimum level of knowledge.
>
> (Context: Just because someone is a certified electrician does not mean
> they would be a great person to work with. They should know and be able to
> work to "code" though)
>
> Certification is different from professionalism
>
> We need a "body of knowledge"
>
> We do not want to restrict entry to the profession.
>
> Some mentioned we should form a profession before it imposed on us.
>
> Would be nice if new people to the profession could learn from someone
> else, like an apprenticeship program. (LOPSA has created a mentorship
> program)
>
> Do not try and do everything at once. (ie. Do not try and create the "body
> of knowledge" in a few months)
>
> look at swebok.org - third edition
>
> opsschool.org is a body of knowledge in progress
>
> kids identify themselves as developers - they do not know that "system
> administration" is a term. (marketing issue)
>
> (to create a body of knowledge) start with a small group of people - start
> with 5 items
>
> (review Tom Limoncelli site - opsreportcard.com)
>
>
> If I have mis-represented anything, please correct me ;)
>
> Craig
>
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