Doctors have to go to medical school and then have a residency and the AMA closely controls the total supply of physicians. Lawyers have to go to an accredited school and then pass the bar (in some states the school part is optional).
A computer science degree is the closest thing the tribe of programmers has to a professional certification. There are some organizations that have attempted to bring the tribe together but none have gained serious tracking. (asp-software.org, aitp.org, computer.org)
What's most interesting to me is that doctors and lawyers actually have legal protection. In most places it is illegal to perform medical services without a license or offer legal advice without a law degree. There is no equivalent protection for programmers. Imagine a world where an individual could be fined for writing a business app without being a certified developer. Suddenly the value of certified programmers would jump up quickly and those who couldn't meet the standards would be quickly drummed out of professional development.
A computer science degree is the closest thing the tribe of programmers has to a professional certification. There are some organizations that have attempted to bring the tribe together but none have gained serious tracking. (asp-software.org, aitp.org, computer.org)
What's most interesting to me is that doctors and lawyers actually have legal protection. In most places it is illegal to perform medical services without a license or offer legal advice without a law degree. There is no equivalent protection for programmers. Imagine a world where an individual could be fined for writing a business app without being a certified developer. Suddenly the value of certified programmers would jump up quickly and those who couldn't meet the standards would be quickly drummed out of professional development.