IT What If? Profession or Union?
The answer, of course, will be pure conjecture ... but I'm also sure many of you have opinions. So, here is mine. Jump in with yours at the end.
I don't think that IT folks have ever seen themselves as union types. I don't mean this in a demeaning way, but feel free to poll your local IT staff. After you ask them if they would ever join a union, ask if they could ever see it happening. My guess is that many probably belonged to unions at one time or another prior to getting through college (like I did - Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workers - I worked in a supermarket and had to join to get the job)... but most would not be able to visualize IT as a union.
Moving past whether it would or could happen, what would unions have done for IT over the past 10 years. Would there have been stronger push-back on H1B Visa's? Would the authorized number of visas be as high as they are right now? If limited, what impact would that have had on the growth of the economy? Would a shortfall of IT workforce have driven up salaries? Would there have been a direct (and negative) correlation to growth - would this have held down innovation? As the economy is cooling and global corporations are cutting jobs, would a centralized union have fought to force firms to cut H1B jobs before US workers (See Senator Wants Microsoft Job Cuts to Target Foreigners)?
While you're chewing on that angle, consider an opposite universe where IT was a true profession. This topic was considered quite recently by IEEE's IT Professional magazine. If IT were organized like lawyers, doctors, and accountants - complete with a governing body, ethics, standards, licensing, etc., how different would the US business landscape be today? Imagine a world where IT employees and consultants required a license. Would the workforce be smaller? What would happen to salaries? Would our profession allow licensed and apprentice levels to fulfill the required staffing of firms?
Again, moving past if/how it would happen, where would we be right now? Would a professional board have objected to international resources? Probably not, as long as they met the requisite skills and paid the full fees. Would a professional board have used lobbying to control and direct legislation to assist the licensed membership? You bet. Would licensed professionals result in higher quality performance, standardized capability, and higher output? I would expect a professional body to create standards and quality... but I don't know that true professionalism would necessarily create higher output. Would making IT a profession attract more US students to pursue IT as a career? I would think so.
More importantly, what do you think? Jump in and add your 2 cents. I truly look forward to your responses.
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We need a hybrid model
This association verse union dicussion is a bit limiting.We in Brightfuturejobs.com are mulling around creating a hybrid - like the electricians or carpenters union. They both require certifications, but they have a "hiring hall" business model which fits ITs project driven model.
Certifications are needed not to measure talent, but to establish "best practices" and assign accountability, just like accountants have CPA certs. Businesses require CPA's for trust purposes. Our society needs to be able to trust the code we write. Again, certs would NOT measure talent, no tech would need these certs unless they would take on the responsibility to verify quality - and be willing to be sued. These are the responsibilities CPAs take on.
If we had established a "hiring hall" professional union 10 years ago, the H-1b corporate visa program would never have increased to 195,000 we would never have our fellow Americans believing that Americans can't do technology, and we would never have private, propietary code running our elections!
This discussion is a great one because it focuses on us shaping our own daily circumstances. That's what standing up for yourself is all about...
IT What If?
As a former member of the Amalgamated Meat-cutters I appreciate the writers' "cutting" insights. Case was well stated: foster a level of professionalism or treat IT skills as a commodity. I think the medical professions point to the answer.Anecdotal comparative evidence of teams with different levels of competency is lacking. The vetting process of the next IT resource is on-the-job performance, and that may take a long time to happen. Professional competencies would reduce the risk (and associated costs) of having the wrong resources performing in a role or on a project team. Distinct and measurable competencies would improve the quality, and in the long run reduce the cost, of IT projects.
It needs to be a Profession!
It is challenging enough to find qualified IT personnel. Making IT a professional trade that requires a certain amount of experience before levels of the title can be reached is an outstanding idea that would eliminate this problem. Businesses will know that the person that they are hiring has done something more than memorized a book and passed a test. As diverse as our field has become, I feel that this needs to happen to ensure that the IT personnel we're developing are of the caliber that today's business demands.