This link has already been posted, but I think it deserves some discussion around the subject of unions. https://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/progra

This link has already been posted, but I think it deserves some discussion around the subject of unions. https://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/programmers-dont-need-a-union-we-need-a-profession/ https://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/programmers-... A union doesn't necessarily seem suited for software development. As people have already explained in much better details than I'd manage, a union aims to help all, but exceptional programmers would be limited by trying to keep everyone to the same level. Some of us would get a pay rise, but many more of us would see a significant drop in salaries, and that's not really fair to those that can justify that kind of salary. Turning Software Development into a chartered profession seems like a no brainer to me, and I'd be interested in opinions as to why this hasn't happened already. In my mind, one reason is obvious, and that's the fact that hardly anyone seems to know the best way to do anything. More often than not, there's a huge difference in how one company and one stack will do something compared to another. Hell, two groups could write entirely different code based on something ultimately trivial, like their choice of CMS. Any professional body would need to be tech agnostic while also being able to set a high standard for anyone in professional development. In all honesty, I think most software developers write code for absolute peanuts when you consider how vital the code is to the running of a business. I imagine that becoming a chartered profession would go much further than a union towards ensuring that software developers are protected in not just pay, but ensuring that they are fully able to write the best code they can.