Licensing

Licensing is a mandatory, legal process that is intended to protect the public, and is typically administered by jurisdictions (states, provinces, and territories). For many professions, national organizations advise the jurisdictions on appropriate licensing requirements and exam contents.

Most professions are licensed, including doctors, architects, lawyers, and engineers. No occupation that affects the public as much as software does remains unlicensed. Table 19-1 lists examples of occupations that require licenses in the state of California.

• Acupuncturist

• Alarm company operator

• Amateur boxer

• Architect

• Attorney

• Barber

• Certified public accountant

• Contractor

• Cosmetologist

• Custom upholsterer

• Dentist

• Embalmer

• Family counselor

• Funeral director

• Geologist

• Guide dog instructor

• Hearing aid dispenser

• Jockey

• Locksmith

• Manicurist

• Mule jockey

• Nurse

• Pest control operator

• Physician

• Physician's assistant

• Private investigator

• Professional engineer

• Real estate appraiser

• Repossessor

• Retail furniture dealer

• Veterinarian

In engineering in the United States, the majority of engineers are not required to obtain licenses. Engineering companies are required to employ some licensed engineers, but not all of their engineers have to be licensed. About half of civil engineers are licensed, but only eight percent of chemical engineers are licensed. The difference lies in how replicable the engineered artifact is and how much impact the item has on public safety. Artifacts that are replicated in large numbers can be tested before they are manufactured and sold to the public; this generally minimizes the risk to the public and reduces the number of licensed engineers needed for that kind of work. Electrical engineers design artifacts that are reproduced in large quantities toasters, televisions, telephones, and so on. Thus, only a small percentage of electrical engineers are licensed, as shown in Table 19-2.

Table 19-2. Percentage of licensed engineering graduates in the United States as of 1996^[4]

DISCIPLINE	LICENSED
Civil	44%
Mechanical	23%
Electrical	9%
Chemical	8%
All Engineers	18%

Civil engineers design many one-of-a-kind artifacts that are also safety-critical highways, bridges, baseball stadiums, airport runways, and so on. So, as Table 19-2 shows, many more civil engineers than electrical engineers are licensed.

Where would software fit into this table? Software developers produce many one-of-a-kind artifacts, but we also produce operating systems, tax preparation software, word processors, and other programs that are replicated by the millions. We produce some safety-critical systems, but many more business systems with less significant impacts on the public safety.

When a builder remodels a house, the builder can make many design decisions on his own. Occasionally a decision will affect the structural integrity of the house, and the builder will need to have an engineer review those plans. In software, even on applications that require some engineering, much of the work can be done by builders non-licensed software engineers and software technologists. Thus most software applications do not require any engineering at all, and the applications that do require some engineering will require only a small percentage of the software staff to be licensed software engineers.

When all the dust settles, my best estimate is that fewer than five percent of people currently practicing as computer programmers will eventually need to get their professional engineer licenses in software and the ratio could easily be closer to one percent.^[5]