Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
in accounting, auditing, business law, finance, and tax subjects. After graduation, the
candidate gets practical training in the profession by finding employment as an accoun-
tant working under the supervision of a CPA. Finally, candidates must sit for the CPA
exam, which has four sections. Candidates who do not pass at least two parts must re-
take the entire exam. Candidates who pass at least two parts of the exam must pass the
remaining parts within five years.
Completion of the necessary formal education, plus satisfactory scores on every
section of the CPA exam, plus two years' work experience enable an accountant to
become a certified public accountant. In order to retain certification, CPAs must fulfill
continuing education requirements and abide by the profession's code of ethics.
It is easy to find a crucial difference between systems analysts, computer programmers,
and system administrators on the one hand and accountants, lawyers, and physicians
on the other hand. At the heart of every mature profession is certification and licens-
ing. Certification and licensing allow a profession to determine who will be allowed to
practice the profession. For example, a person may not practice law in a state without
passing the bar exam and being granted a license. In contrast, people may write com-
puter programs and maintain computer systems, either as consultants, sole proprietors,
or members of larger firms, without being certified or having been granted a license.
There are other differences between computer-related careers and mature profes-
sions. A person does not have to complete college or serve an apprenticeship under
the guidance of an experienced mentor in order to gain employment as a program-
mer, system administrator, or systems analyst. The vast majority of people who hold
computer-related jobs do not belong to either of computing's professional societies. It is
up to particular employers to monitor the behavior of their employees and guide their
continuing education—no professional organization has the authority to forbid some-
one from managing computer networks or writing computer programs.
In another important respect computer programmers differ from most profession-
als, such as dentists and ministers. Typically, professionals work directly with individual
clients. A dentist treats one patient at a time. An accountant audits one business at a time.
Most computer programmers work inside a company as part of a team that includes
many other programmers as well as managers. In this environment the responsibility of
an individual person is more difficult to discern. Low-level technical decisions are made
by groups, and final authority rests with management.
STATUS OF CERTIFICATION AND LICENSING
The two largest organizations supporting the computing field are the IEEE Computer
Society (IEEE-CS), with about 75,000 members, and the Association for Computing
Machinery (ACM), with about 97,000 members. Like organizations supporting mature
professions, the IEEE-CS and the ACM strive to advance the discipline and support their
members through publications, conferences, local chapters, student chapters, technical
committees, and the development of standards.
