April 21-23, 2010
Montréal, Québec, Canada
Who are Computing Professionals?
The computing profession has moved away from simply providing technical solutions and is taking its place at the heart of business. As a consequence computing professionals interact in a community that also includes education and training providers, members of other professions, professional organizations and interest groups, research and development professionals and computing standards development organizations. Ensuring economic competitiveness and satisfying societal needs is depending increasingly on what people do with computer-based technology.
Skilled "Computing Professionals" are responsible for developing and implementing computer-based technology and for its diffusion throughout our society. That label masks an unusually wide range of occupations, including researchers in computer science, computer engineering and software engineering; developers of government and commercial applications and systems; and individuals involved in deploying and maintain existing applications and systems. Adding to the confusion over the identity and number of computing professionals is the growing use of computing in other professional domains. Professional users of computing systems should not be confused with Computing Professionals, those of us who create, develop, or support computing technology and applications.
To perform effectively Computing Professionals need a broad portfolio of competencies. There are fluid boundaries between the competence sets of the various computing specialties and also with those of other professions, e.g., finance, marketing, personnel, training, procurement. This trend towards multi-skilled practitioners who understand the context in which they practice is continuing and requires us to broaden our perspective on the computing profession is order to be successful.
