An IT Professional or Not?

An accountant using the Microsoft Excel in making a payroll for a certain company, can he be considered an IT professional? How about a graphic artist designing some product cover, can we call him an IT professional? A person designing , monitoring and maintaining websites, is he an IT professional?
So, what’s an IT professional? Who can be considered as an IT professional then?
Computing has been a part of many jobs, such as reading and writing are essential skills in doing many jobs. A doctor uses his laptop in keeping some records of his patients as well as a teacher utilizes a computer in presenting her lessons. A worker making use of a computer is not considered a computer professional or IT professional per se but simply an accountant, graphic artist, doctor, engineer or a teacher. These occupations require having and using knowledge of computers. Therefore by using the computer alone does not consider one to be an IT professional.
IT profession or specifically computer profession is very broad. In fact, as I have posted in my last blog, it is still an argument whether to take IT professionals as “professionals”. However, considering it as a profession, it is still quite broad in application. Computer professionals include those who design, sell and maintain software and hardware, those who write documentation, those who design, monitor and maintain websites, the ones who work for ISP and also computer scientist ( Johnson, 2001). Computer professionals have specialized knowledge and often have positions with authority and respect in the community. Therefore, to be considered an IT professional specifically computer professional aside from the body of knowledge he is specialized of, he should also be aware of the significant portions of computer ethics or information ethics to guide him of his day to day activities.
“Information revolution” has altered many aspects of life significantly: commerce, employment, medicine, security, transportation, entertainment, and so on. Consequently, information and communication technology (ICT) has affected — in both good ways and bad ways — community life, family life, human relationships, education, careers, freedom, and democracy and others (from http://plato.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/encyclopedia/ Computer and Information Ethics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).htm).
Since an IT professional affects a variety of spheres in man’s life, he should be aware of the effects of his practice of profession whether it adheres to retain his being a moral agent as a professional. For an IT professional to respond responsibly to all issues creeping regarding his area of specialization, he should be well-versed with the professional ethics embodying an IT professional or computing professional which will steer him to do his jobs in a professional way. Subsequently, it will turn him out to be a full-fledged IT professional.

Bibliography
• Johnson, D. (2001), Computer Ethics, Third Edition Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
• Bynum,T.(2008).Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Computer and Information Ethics Retrieved May 11, 2009 from http://plato.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/encyclopedia/ Computer and Information Ethics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).htm