I would posit that there has been a tipping point in all programming and related fields including webmastering.
That the days of stringing together some solid text pages that all ran off a little recycled personal server that laid unsecured on the floor under your desk are over and the content you served has basically anecdotal info about stuff. Today the internet has become a commerce channel, a medical tool, a financial conduit, a personal diary/finance/calendar life organizer, an entertainment machine, the defacto news bringer, the banking network, an education tool. So whether working on nuclear tools, ecommerce tools or personal calendar tools -- there is nothing left on the internet any more that isn't a database driven, entertainment/financial/medical/planning conduit of tremendous personal import to millions of people. The pervasive need for accuracy, precision, truth, ethics and privacy is through the roof. I would still agree with Dr. LeJeune, other industries (even chefing) have schools and egregiously difficult accreditations that through trial by fire the vast majority of participants have agreed to and come to the vital conclusion that we need standards. If I could wave a wand there would be association accreditations for programming that were industry and academically recognized. If I were running a financial institution with interactive financial tools that reach in to millions of peoples bank accounts, I would be damn straight strict about the quality, aptitude and proven ethics and skills of my workers. I think that needs to be a fact today or get out of this business because I and a lot of consumers depend quite blindly every day that there really is some type of morality and honest purpose, proper coordination and genuine financial skill behind all the tools we use on the internet every day. We need standards. One day there will yet be some massive financial blowup where someone is going to learn that some interest calculating script in an international money market fund was off by 1/100ths of a penny on 33% of transactions and accidentally over 16 years time over $400,000,000 in interest earnings were never applied to account holders. And one of them will be a senator who lost $1,400,000 and then what? What incident are you waiting for? Peter -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Webmaster Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 9:44 AM To: NYPHP Talk Subject: Re: [nyphp-talk] Re: OT: webmaster test I'm not certain of 'Houghton Mifflin' (and whatever traces of etymology they use in that particular edition), but the word itself actually comes from the monastics/priests, in which one would 'profess' their belief. It was later adapted to professional, or 'one who professed an understanding of a skill'. It has never been attached to formal education or academic achievement; that would be 'academic', 'baccalaureate </index.php?term=baccalaureate>', 'esquire' or 'master'. (And I hope you're not seeking your etymological proofs from wikipedia) Clearly the word has been equivocated in this discussion, and I strongly suggest that a Webmaster is a 'professional', in his capacity (not requiring a third party approval), for he is not 'professing' to have skills of basket-weaving or ministry, but to have skills of a specific nature and practice pertaining solely to 'webmastering'. These skills could be verified by a third party, but that verification is not the foundation upon which a profession is established. Professions are established by a particular set of skills being required to perform a particular task, or set of tasks. Hence a professional 'handy-man', 'professional student', 'professional football player', 'professional actor'. The entire concept to be carried in the word is to cognitively separate those who have mastered particular skills from those who are acquiring particular skills (aka Professional VS Amateur). Then again, the word itself began in a society and time of greater moral concentration, so perhaps you assume that anyone who refers to themselves as a professional today, is either lying (if they haven't a third party 'approval' or tertiary educational document) or is equivocating upon the word, and actually means 'academic', 'baccalaureate </index.php?term=baccalaureate>', 'esquire' or 'master' of 'webmastering'. Never-the-less, referencing oneself as a 'professional' is not based upon academic merit, but upon personal, occupational self-reflection. Whether-or-not that reflection is an accurate one leads to a different discussion. As an old friend once told me: "If you call yourself professional, don't turn out to be a Shmegegge" -My two (well ok three) cents Urb LeJeune wrote: > >>> By definition, programming and website design is not a >>> profession. >> >> Really? What specifically is that definition? > > profession: "An occupation, such as law, medicine, or engineering, > that requires considerable training > and specialized study" > > Houghton Mifflin Dictionary. > > Even an engineer must have a professional engineering (PE) designation > to perform certain types of design. > I don't have a problem with a self taught programmers, I've known some > great ones, however, a field having > a large number of practitioners without formal training is a trade not > a profession. A profession is also > self-regulated. > > It's another thread but, should there be certification available for > programmers and web designers? If we > ever want to be considered a profession, that's the first step. I was > in the stock brokerage business when > the designation Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) first came into > being. It was extraordinarily difficult > and it took almost two years after the announcement before the first > designation were awarded. It required > two 8 hour day testing sessions. It made a huge difference in the > industry and these days you will not get > a senior level job in a research department without a CFA. Same thing > happened with Chartered Financial > Planner (CFP). > > I'm unsure of the procedure, but how/when does one change the subject > when we have drifted into a new > area? > > > Urb > > Dr. Urban A. LeJeune, President > E-Government.com > 609-294-0320 800-204-9545 > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > E-Government.com lowers you costs while increasing your expectations. > > > _______________________________________________ > New York PHP Community Talk Mailing List > http://lists.nyphp.org/mailman/listinfo/talk > > NYPHPCon 2006 Presentations Online > http://www.nyphpcon.com > > Show Your Participation in New York PHP > http://www.nyphp.org/show_participation.php > > > _______________________________________________ New York PHP Community Talk Mailing List http://lists.nyphp.org/mailman/listinfo/talk NYPHPCon 2006 Presentations Online http://www.nyphpcon.com Show Your Participation in New York PHP http://www.nyphp.org/show_participation.php _______________________________________________ New York PHP Community Talk Mailing List http://lists.nyphp.org/mailman/listinfo/talk NYPHPCon 2006 Presentations Online http://www.nyphpcon.com Show Your Participation in New York PHP http://www.nyphp.org/show_participation.php
