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.
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