Coming of Age

The Code provides a way of educating the public, including clients and upper management, about what to expect from professional software engineers. Of course, the Code is meaningful only if employers and clients can reasonably expect that software engineering professionals actually follow the Code. Every profession needs a way to discipline workers who fail to live up to the relevant professional standards. Without enforcement, workers who don't live up to the Code can gradually erode the credibility of the profession. At the present time, neither the IEEE Computer Society, the ACM, nor any other organization has any meaningful authority to enforce the Code. Compliance with the Code is voluntary. In the long run, however, software engineering will follow the same path as other professions: full professional standing and adherence to the Code will become a package deal. The Code will be enforced, which will be beneficial to individual software engineers, their employers and clients, and the public.

Samuel Florman said, "maturity brings with it the desire to contribute to the communal welfare." Florman was referring to individuals, but his statement might just as well have referred to the software engineering occupation. The Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice, which emphasizes responsibility to the profession and contribution to society as a whole, is one indication that software engineering itself is beginning to grow up.