[umichguy]

Wasn't this tried/mooted a few years ago but got nowhere in the end? But you also have to understand that for many/most of these types of professional bodies in other fields, you need to have a basic BS type degree to be accredited and this is where I think it fell down flat as quite a few SWEs (compared to other fields) were self-taught, dropped out etc. and didn't necessarily have a college degree. Maybe they can have a different set of criteria for SW field.

[TeMPOraL]

> quite a few SWEs (compared to other fields) were self-taught, dropped out etc. and didn't necessarily have a college degree.

Accreditation isn't just for enforcing a minimum standard of education - it's primarily so that people can actually be held responsible for bad decisions, and so that they have leverage over their bosses (it's harder to find an actual engineer or a doctor willing to do unethical things for you, when they could lose their license over it).

[umichguy]

I totally agree with your point. But unfortunately/ fortunately, those other fields you mention do require a degree as a minimum. But again, they also tend to have larger consequences (usually), compared to a few bad lines of code (usually).