Without putting words into w_t_payne's mouth (and at risk of incurring the ire of HNers who are wary of them), unions would be one such form of organization. O

Without putting words into w_t_payne's mouth (and at risk of incurring the ire of HNers who are wary of them), unions would be one such form of organization. Other such organizations might include software engineering guilds but I don't think such guilds generally act to protect the interests of software engineers collectively or individually. For various historical and professional reasons, software developers have not seriously considered unionization as a means of advancing their interests. However, unions typically do protect their members from arbitrary and unfair work termination. YMMV EDIT: change indirect object of first sentence in last paragraph.