The 4 C’s Explained

Yesterday, I posted “The 4 C’s”.  For the next few days, I’ll discuss what The 4 C’s are about.  Today, the topic is Canadian.

CIPS was formed in 1958 as a way to connect people working in the Information Processing field.  CIPS has always been about people and not the companies they work for.

CIPS is a Canadian organization with international ties and a history of being a founding member for international groups.  CIPS was a founding signatory for Seoul Accord.  CIPS is an accredited member of the International Professional Practice Partnership (IP3).  CIPS has an accreditation agreement with the Institute for Certified Computing Professionals (ICCP).  CIPS also has agreements with the ACM and IEEE.

CIPS is Canadian and recognized throughout the world as representing Canadian I.T. Professionals.

CIPS – the 4 “C”s

Canadian: Internationally Respected.

Champion: An Advocate & The Voice for the Profession and Professional.

Causes: Instils Pride for the IT Worker & Encourages Professional Practice.

Career: Networking, Mentoring & Community: Opportunities are endless!

Other Reasons to Join CIPS

For some people, professional development may not be the number one goal of joining CIPS.  For those people, CIPS offers networking opportunities as well.  At the moment, on the CIPS Saskatchewan board, I work with two Presidents, two Sr. VP’s,  a Director of IT, an IT Manager, and several other people at the senior level.  If you’re busy looking to start your career, or looking for a change, how beneficial would it be to be able to have peers at such a high level?  Working on the CIPS Saskatchewan Board or attending CIPS Saskatchewan events would allow you the opportunity to network with these individuals and others.

One such person is Atul Varde, who is the Sr. VP and CIO of Affinity Credit Union.  Atul has just recently done an interview with Stephen Ibaraki.   You can access the interview at the following link:

http://stephenibaraki.com/cips/v0611/atul_varde.html

How Professionals Would Act

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/06/21/technology-staples-business-depot-privacy-commissioner.html

What happens when you hire a non-professional to do a professional’s job?  What happens if someone who doesn’t understand the legal, moral, and ethical consequences of their actions is asked to do something?

 

You get mistakes like the ones Staples committed as described in the above linked news article.  The technicians working at Staples are not formally trained in IT.  They do not have a great deal of experience.  They have not learned how to be professionals.  CIPS provides a path of trust.  You can trust an I.S.P. holder to do the right things.  You can trust an I.S.P. holder to have the knowledge of what the right thing to do is.  You can trust an I.S.P. holder to learn what the right thing to do is.

 

In this situation, any IT practitioner with an I.S.P. would know:  “You scrub the drives before you dispose of the equipment.”

Continuing Education

Part of the commitment to the I.S.P. designation is continuing education.  This commitment shows the desire to always improve our knowledge, to be better, and to remain relevant.  Education can be reading IT literature, online courses, coaching, classroom based learning, teaching, and writing articles or books.  Some of these learning tasks earn more credits than others.

Every year when an I.S.P. renews their membership, a pledge is made that affirms a minimum of education has occurred over the previous three years.  This pledge is part of what of what it means to be a  professional.   Always striving to be better.

There are actually some options available for free online courses:

Free Online Course Materials | MIT OpenCourseWare

OpenLearn – The Open University

Open Learning Initiative

 

 

Free courses with membership:

ACM Element K Courses

 

And some paid online, accredited courses:

Athabasca University

Program Overview : Clemson University