Benefits of certification

To inform readers about the IEEE Computer Society´s new Certified Software Development Professional credential program, Computer´s board invited Leonard Tripp to describe the program and outline its benefits to professional software developers. Likewise, it invited Adam Kolawa to set forth his concerns about the efficacy of certification. Tripp asserts that certification will help in establishing professional standards and raising the benchmark for individual performance in achieving software quality and productivity. Kolawa counters that we should first determine - if possible - what makes computer science a science and enforce this understanding through accreditation at the educational level, not through certification after the fact