
Programmers don’t need a union. We need a profession. - pavel_lishin
http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/programmers-dont-need-a-union-we-need-a-profession/
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dmckeon
Well, that's quite a wall of text. If you want to make it more persuasive, you
might want to break it up into linked pieces:

    
    
        professions and professionalism
        corporations
        ethics
        competence exams
    

Re the fishing boat operator example, you might want to use a "factory worker"
who does piecework, and does not lease a boat, pay for fuel, and insurance,
hold a fishing or boat operator's license, etc.

Where you use terms, and then defend them, try to find terms that do not need
defending:

    
    
      > commodity labor, and I use that term non-pejoratively.
    

perhaps "piecework" or "fungible product labor"

    
    
        > liberal service ... Professional service...
    

I would delete that whole sentence, and replace it with "Professional work is
a service..."

    
    
        > Some have to fucking use vacation days to attend conferences!
    

uh, "professional" language?

    
    
      > In typical industrial work, the "Bozo Bit" starts out in the "On"
      > position, meaning that a typical worker is assumed to be stupid,
      > treacherous, and useless. Since barriers to entry are low, the only thing
      > that defines a worker is wanting money, and being willing to do unpleasant
      > tasks in order to get it. There's no respect for the average, individual
      > member in such an industry; the default assumption is incompetence,
      > ethical depravity, and childlike stupidity.
    

Wow. Don't hold back, tell us how you really feel!

Instead of "stupid," how about: "a typical newly-hired worker is assumed to be
ignorant of the workplace and the work at hand, and thus potentially dangerous
to themselves and others."

Incompetence and uselessness in an entry-level worker suggest a need for
training rather than intrinsic bozoness. I think that suggesting treachery and
ethical depravity is a bit of a reach, even in this context.

[edits: formatting]

~~~
luser001
Hmm, the additional qualification of "newly-hired" and "entry-level" are not
present in the original, afaict on purpose. Your additions move the meaning
pretty far from the original's. IMHO. YMMV.

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DamnYuppie
It was an interesting read. The main professions he described, law and
medicine, have certification requirements. I wonder if the author is
envisioning having some form of accreditation? Without that how can one know
who is a "professional" programmer?

I am not sure given the current climate of corporations exploitation that this
is viable.

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robdoherty2
Here's a related article on the topic: Is Software Engineering Engineering?
<http://denninginstitute.com/pjd/PUBS/CACMcols/cacmMar09.pdf>

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luser001
Very good article. Thanks. The one sentence "we're not a profession" explains
almost all the tech. workplace dysfunctions that I've seen.

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michaelochurch
I hope people read the article before debating the title, because I have a
specific meaning of "profession" here.

