What Do You Mean I'm Practicing without a License? Certification and Licensing of Requirements Engineering Professionals

During the past few years, we have seen some dramatic events that support licensing and certification of software professionals. The decision to license software engineers in the state of Texas was a landmark event. Other significant events include the establishment of undergraduate degree programs in software engineering, the merger of the CSAB and ABET accrediting bodies, and the plan to accredit undergraduate degree programs in software engineering. The work of the SWECC and other groups such as the WGSEET all point in the direction of a discipline of software engineering that can support licensing and certification. I have long felt that licensing or certification of software engineers was inevitable, at least for developers of products that need to exhibit safety and security properties. Our inclination to sue may also lead to licensing of software engineers who develop essential business applications. The issues to be addressed today have to do with the concept of licensing requirements engineers, which is not exactly the same as licensing software engineers. My views on these issues follow.