IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 29

M

odern software
systems found in
medical equip‑
ment, utility ser‑
vices, transporta‑
tion systems, consumer devices, and
the like are complex. These "criti‑
cal" systems are special because
their failure could adversely affect
the public, even causing injury or
death. For example, consider the
effects of a failed radiation therapy
machine, nuclearplant, orauto air‑
bag deployment system.
These systems also may be
"international" in nature in that
they may involve software com‑
ponents produced by different
individual developers and firms
located in different countries. Open
source software is also sometimes
used in these systems and this soft‑
ware is produced in communal way
and may involve individuals from
around the world.
In order to protect the public
from adverse effects, several U.S.
states will now require licensure
for certain software engineers work‑
ing on such critical systems. In par‑
ticular engineers offering services
directly to the public, either as
sole practitioners or through some
form of small business entity must

similar between states) [7]. Many
professional engineers maintain
licenses in multiple states in order
to expand their practices.

Licensure Requirements
and Process
The p.E. is granted by state licens‑
ing boards upon meeting a combi‑
nation of requirements, generally
consisting of the following:
■ a bachelor's or master's degree
in the discipline specific
engineering from a program
accredited by ABET (formerly
known as the Accreditation
Board for Engineering and
Technology),
■ an acceptable result on the
Fundamentals of Engineering
Exam (which is a comprehen‑
sive test of various knowledge
areas common to all engineer‑
ing disciplines),
■ four years of acceptable work
experience in the candidate's
engineering discipline,
■ an acceptable result on the p.E.
exam in the candidate's disci‑
pline [7].
At this writing, there are 21
ABET‑accredited software engi‑
neering undergraduate programs
in the U.S. and one each in Saudi

Several states in the U.S. will
now require licensure for certain
software engineers.
be licensed. Software profession‑
als who work on critical systems
through a corporate or govern‑
ment entity do not typically need to
be licensed because the employer
retains the obligation and liability
for protecting the public [2].
professional Engineer (p.E.)
is a title used by licensed engi‑
neers in the U.S. However, there
is no single, national license that
allows engineers to practice in any
state - each state maintains its own
licensure criteria (though these are

Arabia and peru. But because these
accredited programs emerged only
within the last 10 years, many
professionals working on critical
software do not have an accred‑
ited undergraduate degrees. Some
software professionals working on
critical systems may have degrees
in related disciplines such as
computer science, computer engi‑
neering or electrical engineer‑
ing. These professionals may still
have a path to licensure - most
states will recognize a closely

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

|

SprING 2013

related degree if additional years
of relevant experience are evi‑
denced. Often, graduate educa‑
tion in software engineering can
be counted towards the additional
experience [1].
There are some practitioners
who have undergraduate degrees
that are not in science or engineer‑
ing, or they may have no under‑
graduate degree at all. Since the
statutes for licensing software
engineers are still emerging, it is
possible that somestates may pro‑
vide alternative paths to licensure
through grandfathering based
on experience or other creden‑
tials. But as of this writing, the
only alternate paths to licensure
that exist are for those who have
a closely related engineering, sci‑
ence, or technical degree.
While there are numerous issues
raised within the United States with
respect to individuals who practice
"software engineering" but are not
licensed, there are also at least two
fundamental "international" prob‑
lems that are raised by licensure of
professional engineers:
1) How to handle externally fur‑
nished software components
that were developed in other
countries?
2) How to deal with the licensure
of pEs from other countries
and cross recognition of licen‑
sure across nations.
Let us consider the second issue only.

International Implications
Other countries recognize the pro‑
fession of software engineering in
some way. For example, Canada
licenses software engineers in a
similar manner to the U.S., while
the United Kingdom, Ireland,
Australia, and New Zealand have
other forms of professional rec‑
ognition, such as the "Chartered
Engineer" in the U.K. Within this
group, there is some cross recogni‑
tion of these credentials. But there
is no direct recognition of non‑U.S.
licenses or certifications in the U.S.
licensure process.
|

29



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - Cover1
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - Cover2
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 1
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 2
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 3
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 4
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 5
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 6
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 7
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 8
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 9
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 10
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 11
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 12
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 13
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 14
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 15
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 16
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 17
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 18
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 19
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 20
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 21
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 22
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 23
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 24
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 25
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 26
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 27
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 28
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 29
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 30
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 31
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 32
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 33
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 34
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 35
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 36
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 37
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 38
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 39
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 40
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 41
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 42
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 43
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 44
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 45
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 46
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 47
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 48
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 49
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 50
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 51
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 52
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 53
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 54
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 55
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 56
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 57
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 58
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 59
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 60
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 61
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 62
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 63
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 64
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 65
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 66
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 67
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 68
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 69
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 70
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 71
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 72
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 73
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 74
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 75
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 76
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 77
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 78
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 79
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 80
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - Cover3
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2013
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com