I'm interested! I'm interested! Votes: 6

Estimates of quantity of the certificates issued during 10 and 8 years of existence of two professionals certification programs in the area of software and systems engineering implemented by known professional associations are considered. The estimates have been obtained by way of processing certificate records openly accessible at the certification programs Web-sites. Comparison of these estimates and the known facts about evolution of one of the certification programs indicates that as of the present day this evolution has not led to a large scale issuance of these certificates. But the same estimates, possibly, indicate that the meaning of these certificates differs from what is usually highlighted, and their real value is much greater. Also these estimates can be viewed, besides all else, as reflecting an outcome of a decade long experimental verification of the known idea about «software engineering as a mature engineering profession», and they possibly show that this idea deserves partial revision.

Relatively small numbers of issued certificates generates a prejudice against certification in general. This point of viev does not take into account the important role of this certification as mechanism of dissemination and unification (including aiding the global compatibility) of the professional language and the body of knowledge in considered areas among practitioners, not just in the academic circles.

One of the purposes of this presentation is to aid growth of number of discussed certificates. Especially in Russia — a country hosting this conference, whose topic in Russian for many years is an equivalent of the words «Software Development» — because, unfortunately, an exact generally accepted concept of Software Engineering is still lacking in the Russian language.