Computing Is a Profession

The notion of what constitutes a profession has been studied extensively through exploration of the attributes of the activities, roles, and community that lead to their rise, definition, and how they achieve importance and influence and society.1 Common among these attributes are a deep technical expertise, an essential, valued, societal contribution, and the need to adhere to high ethical and technical standards. Computing exhibits all of the attributes of a profession. The compounding of this continued and accelerating advance give rise to a deep technical expertise. Algorithms and systems behavioral and internal complexity are peers to the greatest complexities humanity has known in biology, society, and the universe. Computing's evident importance to society is deep and growing--sophisticated collection and information processing underpins decision-making, logistics, and optimization industry and commerce.