Profession/occupation without a history

The study from which the article paper grew examines software developers and related occupational groups. One of the first areas of interest that emerged in the course of the study dealt with the question of professionalization within the various occupational groups. One early observation was that those working in information technology development held a peculiar attitude toward the history of software development, specifically, an ahistorical orientation. Further examination of this ahistorical orientation has led to two considerations: 1) people who are interested in forming into a profession of developers are going to find it very difficult, if not impossible to create a community of professionals among software developers; 2) traditional historiography is inadequate for the analysis of the history of this technology and the people associated with it. The paper argues that the problem of creating an occupational community is related to a set of problems involved in writing the history of software development. It begins with a general discussion of professions and professionalization, followed by a focus on one element of the occupational world of software developers: their orientation to the past-their history. The discussion then moves to a consideration of some of the larger implications arising from the analysis.