> And by and large these people were usually members of the ACM or IEEE. > But its a shift that makes depending on professional orgs more worthless than ever b

> And by and large these people were usually members of the ACM or IEEE. > But its a shift that makes depending on professional orgs more worthless than ever before. I don't think those organizations have ever had any "teeth" in any space, let alone the professional one. I don't think anything like what I'm talking about had ever existed for programmers. I'm thinking of something like more like a Bar Association (like for lawyers) with regulatory/licensing powers or a union with labor-market power. I admit, both are unlikely to arise anytime soon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_association#Mandatory.2C_integrated.2C_or_unified_bar_associations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_association#Mandatory.2C_i... > Some states require membership in the state's bar association to practice law there. Such an organization is called a mandatory, integrated, or unified bar,[3][4] and is a type of government-granted monopoly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disbarment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disbarment: > Disbarment is the removal of a lawyer from a bar association or the practice of law, thus revoking his or her law license or admission to practice law. Disbarment is usually a punishment for unethical or criminal conduct. Procedures vary depending on the law society. > Generally disbarment is imposed as a sanction for conduct indicating that an attorney is not fit to practice law, willfully disregarding the interests of a client, or engaging in fraud which impedes the administration of justice.