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!

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

 

Why Professioanlism in IT Matters

The IT industry is funny.  It has a very low barrier to entry.  A computer with an internet connection can turn anyone into a web developer, or a programmer, or a network specialist.  A bright high school kid can whip up a pretty cool application, or produce a flashy web page, or even configure your network for you.  But what kind of guarantee do you get from the work?

Think of it this way:  You have a lawyer and a guy who read some law books.  Who do you want writing up the contract on your new home?  You have a doctor and a hunter.  Who do you want taking out your appendix?  You have a janitor and an Engineer.  Who do you want designing and building the bridge you drive on?  Would you trust a whiz kid to build your purchasing system?

Why would you take the risk of engaging the services of an under qualified individual when something important is at stake?

 

When you hire someone with an I.S.P. you already know a few things about them:

1. They have education and training in the IT field.
2. They continue to improve their education and training.
3. They have promised to maintain a high standard of ethics.
4. The IT field is their primary area of work, and have been in the field for at least several years.

Those things matter.  They create trust and confidence.

Privatization Argument

Recently there have been ads on TV and web discussion concerning the privatization of the Provincial Government’s IT services.

The claim mainly rests on who the service provider is responsible to.  A government employee is responsible to the Government, which is responsible to the people.  A corporate employee is responsible to the company, which is responsible to the owner(s)/shareholders.

http://www.ifyoulovesaskatchewan.ca/privatization_threats/technology.html

The argument is: If a company’s bottom line is threatened, it will choose the least damaging option, which may put the people of the province at risk.

I’m not going to argue about whether this is right or wrong, either logically or in reality.  What I want to argue is, in an environment where you have people with the I.S.P. designation, it is a moot point.  From this page, there are two key points about the I.S.P. to understand:

• Standards of Ethics and Practice – Holding an I.S.P. designation means that your IT staff members have agreed to be bound by the CIPS Code of Ethics. Their intentions can be trusted. I.S.P. holders only undertake work that they are qualified to do. This reduces your organization’s management risk. You can trust an I.S.P. holder.
• Public confidence – Organizations can have peace of mind knowing that their clients and customers can rely on I.S.P. holders to abide by the highest standards of ethics and professional conduct. CIPS has a review process to investigate complaints regarding I.S.P. holders or CIPS members who may have violated the CIPS Code of Ethics.

Hire people with the I.S.P. designation, and you can be confident they will do the right thing.