Re: [xml-dev] Should XML Professionals Be Programmers?

[Liam R E Quin <liam@w3.org>]

On Thu, 2012-03-08 at 16:43 +0000, Michael Kay wrote:

> There's no such thing as an XML professional, any more than you can be a 
> screwdriver professional or a fork-lift truck professional.

Actually there _are_ professional fork-lift operators; they go on
courses and get qualifications to operate the machinery.


>  People who 
> define their abilities by the tools they can use proficiently are not 
> professionals, they are technicians; professionals define their 
> capabilities in terms of the problem space, not the solution space.

A profession is a job that requires training and a qualification.

If people are working with XML, let's allow them to sit at the High
Table regardless of whether they wear a college tie. Or shoes ;-)

Liam


-- 
Liam Quin - XML Activity Lead, W3C, http://www.w3.org/People/Quin/
Pictures from old books: http://fromoldbooks.org/