Being A Professional

How to Be a Professional? Dr K P Mohandas Professor, Electrical Engineering

Who is a professional? † Professionals and amateurs in sports † Profession and occupation † Profession is an occupation requiring special education † Occupation is the principal activity in your life that you do to earn money † Professionals are : those h who h are dedicated d di d to a profession f i e.g. doctors, engineers, lawyers,managers etc † How they are different from nonprofessionals? they can practice their profession as they are trained for practicing the profession, even without an institutional help A formal registration is necessary (e (e.g. g IMC)

Behaviour of Professionals

I.Honesty and integrity †B Be honest h t and d honourable h bl in i th the deeds † Honour H will ill be b the th prime i result lt off your deeds † What Wh is i meant by b integrity? i i ? an unreduced or completeness or totality OR moral soundness in the behaviour

II.Responsibility and accountability † A professional is responsible for his actions † He should be glad to take up responsibility irrespective of the outcome † He should be accountable to: the institution to which he / she is attached to the public at large to himself or his conscience

III.Respect †R Respectt others th if you wantt others th to t respect you † Respect R t others th nott simply i l based b d on their position or power only † More M based b d on their h i ability bili and d behaviour † Respect your elders even if they are lower in your professional cadre

IV.Try to achieve Excellence and be scholastic in attitude † Try to reach higher levels of competence in our efforts † Perfection is the motto † Try to become a scholar in things that you do by learning more and more † The Th knowledge k l d should h ld be b second d to t none

V. Leadership † “Lead, Lead Follow or Get out of the way” † Leaders are not born, they become leaders by constant efforts † Easier to follow than lead † But you will enjoy being a leader rather than be a follower † At least, don’t be, “neither a leader nor

a follower”

† you will be a nuisance to society if you are neither

VI.Altruism or selflessness means † the q quality y of unselfish concern for the welfare of others † acting with less concern for yourself than for the success of the joint j activity † Imagine a world where people give of themselves simply because they want to. Not out of a sense of debt. not because they want something in return. return † "No ulterior motives. No guilt feelings. Just a desire to give for the sake of giving

Altruism ( continued)

imagining this hi

Now instead i d off kind of world, do

your part in

happen happen.

making it † Volunteer your time to improve your community. Give back to the world that gives so much to you. And if it happens to make you feel good, that's all right. † Feeling good is the one ulterior motive that's acceptable." † (From a Quotation by Bill Daniels)

VII.Caring Compassion and Communication † Three C C’s s † Caring for others † Compassion C i ffor others th †C Communicate i t your compassion i and d care in a suitable way

Code of ethics of a typical professional society, IEEE † IIn accepting i a personall obligation bli i to our profession, f i its i members and the communities we serve, we do hereby commit ourselves to the † highest ethical and professional conduct

Responsibilityy for decisions 1 .to accept responsibility l in making k engineering

decisions consistent with the safety, f y health and welfare of the public, and to disclose promptly factors that might endanger the public or the environment;

Avoid Conflicts of interest 2.to avoid id reall or perceived i d conflicts fli off interest i whenever h possible, and to disclose them to affected parties when they d exist; do xi t;

No tall or exaggerated claims, please 3.to be honest h and realistic l in stating claims or estimates based on available data

Reject Bribery in any form

4.to reject bribery in all its forms; monitory gifts f or other h means

Improve technical competence

to improve your understanding d d off technology, h l its appropriate pp p application, pp and ppotential consequences

Accept criticism and correct errors

to seek, accept, and offer honest criticism off technical h l work, k to acknowledge k l d andd correct errors, and to credit pproperly p y the contributions of others;

7.

Love for others irrespective of ..

8.to treat fairly f l allll persons regardless l off such ffactors as race,, religion, g , ggender,, disability, age, nationality of origin;

Inflicting pain, physical or mental on others h

to avoid injuring j g others, their property, reputation, or employment by false or malicious action;

9

Help those who need it

10. to assist colleagues ll and coworkers in their professional development p and to support pp them in following this code of ethics