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The debate on software engineering licensing and its merits are discussed in this article. The author states that licensing is a political issue and not a technical one, so finding an answer is difficult, and it will never be possible to prove that any course of action is the right one. However, licensing can be influenced, for the two potentially good results from licensing of software engineers are because licensing forces to define, codify and organize the field and has the potential to improve the overall quality of the software engineering discipline; and because licensing may be legally required for certain purposes. It has the potential to reduce the chances that unqualified, incompetent practitioners will build inappropriate software in systems that affect the public's health and safety. Every field needs to mature, and licensing has a good track record of helping disciplines do so. If the skills associated with a powerful new technology cannot reasonably be understood by the layman, regulation is one of society's less intrusive ways of keeping things under control. The author observes that licensing and regulation are too important to leave to others.

The article offers information on two projects that could lead to the improvement of worldwide software engineering workforce. First is the Integrated Software and Systems Engineering Curriculum Project (ISSEC) that has published the "Graduate Software Engineering 2009 (GSwE2009): Curriculum Guidelines for Graduate Degree Programs in Software Engineering." The BKCASE project started in September, 2009 has two products including the "Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge" (SEBoK) and the Graduate Reference Curriculum for Systems Engineering" (GRCSE).