David Lang wrote:
From a discussion on what makes a "Professional" writer, but I think the
definition is a good one.
professional means 1) someone whose work can determine his clients
life and/or liberty, and 2) who usually deals with clients on a
one-on-one basis, where the client is unlikely to be able to judge the
quality of the work at least until its too late to make a difference.
These two things define the level of trustability in the competence of
the professional that is required.
I would probably add to #1 "or end up costing a very large amount of
money" defined as a large multiplier of what the client is paying for
your service.
Our work sure qualifies under the first point, and while large shops
have checks in place, Snowden has shown that even the NSA can't
prevent a rouge Sysadmin from doing series damage, and is no different
than a large Engineering or Law firm that can attempt to put in
similar checks, but can't possibly hope to prevent all problems.
I was under the impression that "professional" usually referred to:
- paid for one's work (vs. amateur)
- educational credentials
- usually, but not always, licensing (as in doctor, lawyer, professional
engineer - with software engineer being in the "not licensed" category)
- responsible to a professional code of ethics
Miles Fidelman
--
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is. .... Yogi Berra
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