Opinion: Licence to Practise in IT

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I think these schemes are madness.
I can kind of understand it when it regulates an industry that has the potential to cause harm to others, such as healthcare or security, but that's about it.
I mean, if some guy with a chainsaw cuts his own leg off, it doesn't really matter if he has a license or not. It's no different from a window cleaner falling off a ladder.
If some people had their way, we'd need to be registered and licensed to do anything. We could all have hundreds of little photo ID cards and there could be loads of regulating bodies who could have meetings and issue procedure updates which would require us to re-certify in order to stay compliant. Yuk.

I know tradesmen who have worked all their lives and have become masters of their trades but now can't work officially because they don't have a CSCS card or can't 'sign off' a job they've done. No, you need some 19 year old pikey who is fresh from the job center to do it because he got his CSCS card through a new deal training scheme.

I'm not anti big brother or anything, but sometimes it's just mad.

 

I'm not sure, the term licence is a little bit open ended and could mean anything. The examples you are giving are mostly people that are decision makers in life or death situations so I'm not sure that we are on the same level.

It could be good if the licence guarentees some level of professionaism and competence in the field or it could just me like the tv licence which of course guarentees nothing other than the bbc don't have to put ad's in their proggys and they can sit back and effortlessly collect money from anyone with a viewing device in their home!


In short I dont know at ther moment.

 

More (pointless) cost to tax payers for little or no benefit, Companies should be capable of vetting their own employees and contractors through references and trial periods.

I would however like to see one for sales people, 3 lies and your out sorta scheme, thats one way to thin that particular herd

 

I think these things are always doomed.
Take a chainsaw license for example.

- Nobody can seem to agree if one is required or when.
- Is it something a customer actually asks to see when they ask a tree surgeon to come round?
- It's an additional cost/administrative effort for tradesmen.
- It doesn't actually stop you hurting someone of doing something stupid.
- It's not going to be difficult to get so it fails to distinguish between someone who knows what they're doing and someone who doesn't.
- It doesn't prevent people without a license doing work on the QT.

I fear that an IT license would have the same flaws. What's wrong with certification to proove that you know what you're doing? It's not perfect, but nothing ever is.

 

Thinking about it - how on earth are they going to define 'working in IT'?

We technically deliver software solutions, but I could call myself a consultant or project manager and argue that I don't actually administer a system, work with hardware or install software myself. So do I work in IT or not?

On the other hand, a first line IT support agent may just answer the phone and enter details into an automated system. He works in IT, but does he really need a license to answer the phone? If he does, surely he would be better off getting stuck into ITIL which might actually teach him something useful.

 

At what level in IT would someone need to get a license. Would an administrative assistant operating microsoft office on a daily basis need a license or is the IT Manager of a large corporate faciltiy with 400 staff the only person that needs the license. Who would govern the licensing of said individuals and who would Police it.

Anyone can pick up a book on computing read it and begin to use a PC, only a select few can pick up a book on anatomy read and understand the inner workings of the human body. Sorry a simplistic view but who would you rather is a licensed practicioner to prove there competence in there job, the person with the stethoscope (and training to prove they can use it effectively) around their neck or the person with the access card for the server room.

 

Sounds a nice way to generate a bit of money.

 

I totally agree with Jonny, I'd really like to see more professionalism in IT, but have not seen any scheme that can deliver in this regard, they all just generate more paperwork. It just raises the noise to signal ratio without any real benefit.

The same can be said for certifications.

Such schemes only benefit people with clipboards or those selling the licenses....

 

Imagine all the pointy-haired IT managers that would fail said exams ;)

 

It certainly wouldn't be something I would willingly sign up for. I can understand why you need proper vetting/training in all the examples you've listed from a safety/legal standpoint but I can't see why you would need it in IT.
I imagine the MOT licence is so they can address the problem of rogue garages issuing MOT certs to cars that are not roadworthy (i.e. you'll lose your livelihood if you get caught passing cars which are unsafe, which are a danger to other road users and pedestrians), the chainsaw licence is to make sure all right-thinking people get training in handling chainsaws (there is no such thing as a minor chainsaw accident) and the police service obviously deal with important life-or-death issues.
The only area where it might be a good idea in IT is protecting people's personal info, but the government need to get their own shop in order before I'll take them seriously on that one.

 

Except like certs, CITP proves nothing...

 

I'm against the concept of having a registration to be an IT professional but actually having some form of interview and x number of years in the industry, like JK has had, to gain the CITP.

But then like everything else, you have to be careful the issuing authority for it doesn't become corrupt or money-greedy.

Additionally, to have a registration body, you'll need to have someone who is going to care whether you are on the register or not - the bloke at the house when you are doing an install, the company you are going to be hired by?