The user services profession
William W. McMillan · 1982
As a profession develops, its members tend to formalize the definition of the profession's scope, the educational requirements and ethical standards for the practitioner, and, in some cases, certification procedures. This will happen to user services if the profession continues to exist with a fair measure of distinction from mainstream computer science and from applied computing. As the number of user services people employed under the title “programmer” decreases, and the number employed as “consultant,” “writer,” or similar titles increases, people both inside and outside of the profession will begin thinking about what a user services person is and where he or she should come from. In this paper, I suggest that we begin thinking now about some formal issues concerning the profession, such as the skills needed to practice it and the requirements that should be met to enter it. Admittedly, this is an early stage of development at which to discuss these issues, but I encourage it for two reasons. First, we should prevent over-formalization that would spoil the character of the profession. Second, we should develop some mechanisms now to advance the personal growth of user services professionals.