Licensing of IT security consultants revisited

[Q G Campbell]

Owen

> > In an area that cries out for transparency, the situation=20
> seems to be=20
> > getting murkier.
>=20
> I don't think so but then I'm only a full time practitioner=20
> and not an academic :-)

As an Australian Citizen, not a UK National, I always had difficulty
when applying for jobs here which required security vetting at any
level. Areas of computing employment (and some outside as well) in which
I was particulraly interested at the time were no-go areas. As far as I
am concerned it was not a transparent job market.

It is for this reason that I finally chose to work as an IT professional
in a university (note not as an "academic") where my nationality was not
an issue. That university also happened to be the one from which I had
earlier graduated.

With this background in mind you can perhaps understand why I am a bit
touchy about any suggestion of licencing schemes. I welcome scrutiny by
appropriate professional bodies of my professional competencies, skills,
experience and personal integrity but would fight any attempt to bring
in consideration of "other" issues in judging whether I am fit to
continue working in areas of IT security.


Quentin