The push to make software engineering respectable

A recognized engineering profession must have an established body of knowledge and skill that its practitioners understand and use consistently. After 30 years, there is still a wide gap between the best and the typical software engineering practices. To close this gap, we need a deeper partnership among industry, academia, and professional societies. We have spent some time considering the reasons for SE's immaturity. All of us are heavily involved in both industry and academia and have been active in professional societies that aim to promote SE as a profession. Promotion efforts are by no means limited to the US, but because our experience is primarily with US activities, that is our focus in this article. Our main goal is to explore, from a multifaceted perspective, why we are where we are now and how we can move forward.