IEEE-CS is pursuing licensing for software engineers, but ACM believes that software engineering is too immature, and regulating the profession would be premature. In 1996, Norman Gibbs and Gary Ford from Carnegie Mellon University performed a qualitative survey of the maturity of the software engineering profession. I apply this model to the present state of the art in software engineering and analyze the results for 2010. I analyze the maturity of software engineering to determine that the profession is not yet ready for licensure. This is not because the infrastructure of software engineering is too immature, but because we have failed to establish an appropriate body of knowledge for software engineers. I also show that once an appropriate body of knowledge is established, licensure will be an appropriate next step and will open the way for the profession to fully mature.
","abstract_html":"<p>IEEE-CS is pursuing licensing for software engineers, but ACM believes that software engineering is too immature, and regulating the profession would be premature. In 1996, Norman Gibbs and Gary Ford from Carnegie Mellon University performed a qualitative survey of the maturity of the software engineering profession. I apply this model to the present state of the art in software engineering and analyze the results for 2010. I analyze the maturity of software engineering to determine that the profession is not yet ready for licensure. This is not because the infrastructure of software engineering is too immature, but because we have failed to establish an appropriate body of knowledge for software engineers. I also show that once an appropriate body of knowledge is established, licensure will be an appropriate next step and will open the way for the profession to fully mature.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Dean, Travis Lawrence"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"MS in Computer Science","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":"Computer Science","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Turner, Clark Savage"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-03-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2011-03-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:32:50Z","subjects":["Software engineering","maturity model","professional","profession","licensing","Other Computer Engineering"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["10.15368/theses.2011.25"],"render_values":[{"text":"10.15368/theses.2011.25","href":"https://doi.org/10.15368/theses.2011.25","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/469","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Turner, Clark Savage"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Dean, Travis Lawrence"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2011-03-21T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Computer Science"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["MS in Computer Science"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Software engineering","maturity model","professional","profession","licensing","Other Computer Engineering"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/469","10.15368/theses.2011.25"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["IEEE-CS is pursuing licensing for software engineers, but ACM believes that software engineering is too immature, and regulating the profession would be premature. In 1996, Norman Gibbs and Gary Ford from Carnegie Mellon University performed a qualitative survey of the maturity of the software engineering profession. I apply this model to the present state of the art in software engineering and analyze the results for 2010. I analyze the maturity of software engineering to determine that the profession is not yet ready for licensure. This is not because the infrastructure of software engineering is too immature, but because we have failed to establish an appropriate body of knowledge for software engineers. I also show that once an appropriate body of knowledge is established, licensure will be an appropriate next step and will open the way for the profession to fully mature.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The State of Software Engineering Maturity and Licensure"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Turner, Clark Savage"],"dc:creator":["Dean, Travis Lawrence"],"dc:date.available":["2011-03-21T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["IEEE-CS is pursuing licensing for software engineers, but ACM believes that software engineering is too immature, and regulating the profession would be premature. In 1996, Norman Gibbs and Gary Ford from Carnegie Mellon University performed a qualitative survey of the maturity of the software engineering profession. I apply this model to the present state of the art in software engineering and analyze the results for 2010. I analyze the maturity of software engineering to determine that the profession is not yet ready for licensure. This is not because the infrastructure of software engineering is too immature, but because we have failed to establish an appropriate body of knowledge for software engineers. I also show that once an appropriate body of knowledge is established, licensure will be an appropriate next step and will open the way for the profession to fully mature.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/469","10.15368/theses.2011.25"],"dc:subject":["Software engineering","maturity model","professional","profession","licensing","Other Computer Engineering"],"dc:title":["The State of Software Engineering Maturity and Licensure"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Computer Science"],"thesis:degree_name":["MS in Computer Science"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:32:50Z"}