Prof IT certification promises to make it easier to assess individuals’ abilities

Consultation has begun on Prof IT, a new qualification programme to help IT staff prove their professionalism.

The scheme has the support of IT trade, end-user and staffing groups including the British Computer Society (BCS), E-skills UK, Intellect and the National Computing Centre (NCC). Prof IT was announced today at the BCS Prof IT 2006 Conference in London.

The groups will collaborate on a consultation process, and guidelines due to be published in the autumn. Intellect said the aim is to help organisations to “implement, demonstrate and assess IT professionalism” and added that seven criteria would be used - integrity, processes, people, communication, relationships, learning and citizenship.

“The UK’s ICT industries and the people they employ are often perceived as lacking professionalism and up to now there has been no benchmark for IT professionalism in organisations,” said John Higgins, Intellect’s director general, in a statement. “This initiative will hopefully go some way to engendering trust between suppliers and customers, thus enabling the delivery of successful IT programmes which will contribute to the prosperity of the UK .”

For many years, commentators have bemoaned the lack of an overarching IT qualification, saying that employers must rely on a mish-mash of certifications, experience and claimed expertise.

Last year, the BCS expanded its own certification schemes to attract candidates for Chartered IT Professional (CITP) status. It enlisted the assistance of the Cabinet Office, and now has 18,000 qualified members.

Prof IT will extend the concept outside the BCS’s domain and will provide lower levels of qualification, said the organisation. “CITP is still the gold standard that IT professionals should aspire to but not everybody will be able to achieve that,” said BCS chief executive David Clarke. “Everyone I’ve spoken to has said we really need to do this now – there’s a momentum building.”