I am a Member of the BCS, Chartered Engineer and Chartered IT Professional. Before I moved into IT, I was a Chartered Mechanical Engineer (MIMechE), so becoming a professional member of the BCS seemed like the right thing to do. In my opinion, the principle of professional institutions is sound: after graduation, you spend several years learning the practice of the profession, until you are judged by the institution to have reached a certain standard. This approach is more or less common to all the professions: as well as engineers, of course, it applies to physicians, lawyers, architects, accountants and many others. I assumed that as the IT profession became more widespread and established, it would mature into something resembling the other engineering disciplines, where professional qualifications are recognised and valued. Clearly this hasn't happened and does not look likely to happen any time soon. There may be many reasons for this but I believe an important one is the consequence of failure: if a lawyer, accountant or chemical engineer fail, the outcome adversely affects other people either physically or emotionally. So it is investigated and individuals are held to account. If a software project fails, the consequences are usually purely financial and it is much less common for anyone to be held to account. Consequently, organisations do not seem to demand that software engineers are professionally qualified and software engineers have no incentive to obtain professional qualifications. Given that the shockingly high failure rate of IT projects, it seems to me that it would be a good idea for organisations to start holding the profession to account. I am aware that I am in a small minority who hold this view. The reason I joined the BCS is to have my skills and professional experience recognised. I don't know how many potential employers/clients have been impressed by the letters after my name, and as far as I remember, nobody has ever discussed it in a job interview. Despite this, I shall keep paying my subscription in the hope that my membership of the BCS demonstrates something of my professionalism and commitment. Regards, Jeremy Clark B.Eng CEng CITP MBCS etc.