Week 8 Understanding Computing Professions

• Profession


  Publicly acknowledged areas of expertise and service which exist within the workforce
• Professions


  • Individuals who commit to adhering to ethical standards of the profession and who are accepted based on their possession of special knowledge and skill set
• Characteristics of Professions


  • Acceptance of an ideal of public duty and service which take priority over financial reward
  • Generally high level of a vocationally specific knowledge required by the member
  • Generally high level of public respect and confidence
  • Organisation of the members of the profession into a body or fellowship which represents the members and sets standards for entrance and continuing membership
  • Existence of an ethical framework which the member accepts and undertakes to work within
  • Guarantee of a high level of commitment to competence provided by the member to the public community
  • Ethical quality of personal life and personal integrity which could reasonably be expected by the public
• Personal Integrity


  Consistency between one's own deepest beliefs and one's actions
• Personal integrity in a person becomes most obvious at time of great stress or difficulty in life
• Professional codes of ethics help a professional person to behave consistently and ethically within their area of service and expertise
• Professional codes of ethics are needed to guide a professional's behaviour and actions in the eyes of the public
• Qualities of Professionals


  • Loyalty and commitment to ongoing professional development
  • Excellence
  • Competence
  • Diligence
  • Dignity
  • Honesty
  • Confidentiality
• Shakespeare: 'This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not be false to any man'
• Indications of Personal Integrity

  • Being assertive
  • Being a person/adult in my own right
  • Being independent
  • Not easily swayed, but still open to new ideas
  • Not being excessively influenced by the intrusive opinions of others
  • Ability to think for myself, and come to my own ethical conclusions even when that goes against the tide of popular opinion
• Conscientious Objection


  When my ethical convictions place me at odds with the law itself
• The basis for ethical action is the expression of moral values through the choice of moral goods in relationships which are balanced and just
• The ethical action is ultimately based on intrinsic value of actions, material goods that reflect this, forms of life and human persons
• Conflicts that arise in professional life and work are often difficult to discern with merely on the basis of personal integrity and moral values
• Codes of Ethics


  Practical expressions of values encoded in statements which are usually vocationally specific
• Codes of Ethics are usually based on developing experience, and require revision from time to time to meet the needs of changing circumstances such as new technology
• Codes of Ethics are usually developed within a profession which prefers to be self-regulatory rather than subject to an externally imposed legal or criminal code
• An essential characteristic of a profession is the need for its members to abide by a Code of Ethics
• The ACS requires its members to subscribe to a set of values and ideals which uphold and advance the honour, dignity and effectiveness of the profession of information technology
• Codes of Ethics have an educative role for members of the profession
• Code of Ethics


  Sometimes referred to as a Value Statement, behaves like a Constitution with general principles to guide behavior
• Code of Professional Conduct

  Provides the specific details for principles outlined in the Code of Ethics, outlines relevant guidelines to different areas of professional operations