Aleksey++ Mack On Jun 26, 2015 9:06 AM, "Aleksey Tsalolikhin" <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi, > > I did some reading in Sociology on professionalization when we created > the LOPSA Professional Content Committee a year and a half ago. I did not > submit my findings in a timely manner (my apologies) and now the committee > is dissolved (we set it up with a TTL). However, I would still like to > share my finding: > > The most successful transitions from trade/craft/semi-prof to full > profession occur _in cooperation with educational institutions_. > > Therefore: Support JESA and academic initiatives toward professionalizing > system administration. LOPSA can't do it alone. > > The seminal work on this is: > > The Professionalization of Everyone? > Harold L. Wilensky > American Journal of Sociology > Vol. 70, No. 2 (Sep., 1964), pp. 137-158 > Published by: The University of Chicago Press > http://www.jstor.org/stable/2775206 > > I got it for free from JSTOR with registration. It's only 22 pages and a > great read. > > The section "Is there a process for professionalization?" lays out a > common roadmap for professionalization: > > 1. Get people actually doing the work full-time. (That's what LOPSA > members are doing. Educational/mentoring activities of LOPSA support > getting people doing the work full-time. THEY ARE WORTHWHILE AND SHOULD BE > CONTINUED AND SUPPORTED.) > > 2. Get training happening and a professional association THAT INVOLVES > SCHOOLS. "Where professionalization has gone farthest, the occupational > association does not typically set up a training school; the schools > usually promote an effective professional association." > > 3. "Those pushing for prescribed training and the first ones to go through > it *combine to form a professional association*." This paragraph is so > relevant to us now! It talks about soul-searching by the association, and > possibly changing the name of the profession (e.g. "infrastructure > engineering" rather than "system administration") > > 4. Win support of law for protection of job territory (Legal protection > of the title.) > > 5. Eventually rules to eliminate the unqualified and unscrupulous, protect > the client and emphasize the service ideal will be embodied in a *formal > code of ethics* > > Quote: > > In sum, there is a typical process by which the established > professions have arrived: men being doing the work full time and stake out > a jurisdiction; the early masters of the technique or adherents of the > movement become concerned about standards of training and practice and set > up a training school, which, if not lodged in universities at the outset, > makes academic connection within two or three decades; the teachers and > activists then achieve success in promoting more effective organization, > first local, then national -- through either the transformation of an > existing occupational association or the creation of a new one. Toward the > end, legal protection of the monopoly of skill appears; at the end, a > formal code of ethics is adopted. > > The next section is "Barriers to Professionalization". > > I see LOPSA as a proto professional association. I expect it will evolve > or be replaced as we mature. I am excited to be part of this evolution. > Thank you for everything you do to keep the world going. Please continue. > Your work is valuable. > > Yours truly, > Aleksey Tsalolikhin > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators > http://lopsa.org/ > >
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