For a couple of months two german guys, Ralf Westphal and Stefan Lieser lanched a great  initiative called CCD for Clean Code Developer. They try to answer a quite simple question :

What makes a professional software developer?

Is it  someone who earn money with software ? Somenone who have a  diploma, Phd in computer science ... ? I guess you will not be surprised that it is not what they have in mind  !

Professionalism = Consciousness + principles

The starting point  is the book of Bob C. Martin Clean Code (a must read).  They extract from it principles and try to build a system of values. This System is made of rules, principles and best practices and is  in the form of successive  degrees like in martial art (but in the other way round). Black to white, from the dark side to the light side of the force.

I really think that this initiative goes in the right direction in term of education and some how it is another step in the direction "software development will become an industry".

I do not know if someone tries inside a team to work with those armbands. It can be a source of motivation to learn more or it can be seen as a rank :  bad developer and good developer...

PS : For the not german readers the Google translation bar works quite well ;o)