> All professions have a union of some sort that police both the members and the employers - lawyers, doctors ... No, they don't. Professional societies aren'

> All professions have a union of some sort that police both the members and the employers - lawyers, doctors ... No, they don't. Professional societies aren't unions. They don't police anything, governments do; the societies only provide input to the rulesmaking process for the profession. They also have no power to represent their members in employment-related matters like a union. They do provide some union-like services to their members, but it's the fringe stuff like continuing education to maintain licenses. Also, these exist for software engineers (ACM and IEEE), but the industry (at least the Valley-centric part) largely ignores them as membership organizations and resist any attempt to produce professional regulations similar to what those other professions have.