The Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP) is a

professional association A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) usually seeks to advocacy, further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in that professio ...

that focuses on

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...

education for business professionals. The group is a non-profit US-oriented group, but its activities are performed by 62 local chapters organized on a geographic basis, and 286 student chapters at college and universities. Univac120Boise1957

History

The group was first organized in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, United States, in 1949, as the National Machine Accountants Association (NMAA). The State of Illinois granted the NMAA a charter on December 26, 1951. It soon had over 20 chapters. Harvey W. Protzel, systems manager for Protzel's Company, was elected the first International President at the 1952 First Annual Convention in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. In 1962, it adopted the more inclusive name, Data Processing Management Association (DPMA), and in 1996, the present name. The Association began its certification program with the Certificate in Data Processing (CDP) professional examination, first held in 1962 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 1970, it added the Registered Business Programmer (RBP) examination. In 1974, the Association joined in establishing the Institute for the Certification of Computer Professionals (ICCP) to administer the examination program and stimulate industry acceptance of the examinations. The certification is now called

Certified Computing Professional The Institute for the Certification of Computing Professionals (ICCP) is a non-profit ( 501(c)(6)) institution for professional certification in the Computer engineering and Information technology industry. It was founded in 1973 by 8 professio ...

(CCP). In 1969, the Association created the annual DPMA Man of the Year Award, awarding it (incongruously, given its name) to Dr. Grace Murray Hopper. After Dr. Ruth Davis of the US

National Bureau of Standards The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...

won the 1979 award, it was renamed the Distinguished Information Sciences Award. In 2017, the Association was purchased by

CompTIA The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is an American non-profit trade association that issues professional certifications for the information technology (IT) industry. It is considered one of the IT industry's top trade associ ...

. In 2019, CompTIA rebranded the national AITP as CompTIA IT Pro and Student Membership, however many local chapters still retain the AITP name.

Ethics

The Association requires its members to abide by a

code of ethics Ethical codes are adopted by organizations to assist members in understanding the difference between right and wrong and in applying that understanding to their decisions. An ethical code generally implies documents at three levels: codes of bus ...

. The Association also requires members to operate by a ''"Standards of Conduct"'' for IT Professionals, which adds specifics.

References

External links

AITP official websiteOral history interview with Willis Daniel

Charles Babbage Institute The IT History Society (ITHS) is an organization that supports the history and scholarship of information technology by encouraging, fostering, and facilitating archival and historical research. Formerly known as the Charles Babbage Foundation, ...

, University of Minnesota. Daniel focuses on the origin and growth of the National Machine Accountants Association (NMAA), later the Data Processing Management Association (DPMA). He describes how the changes in business data processing in the 1940s and 1950s led to the creation of NMAA in an effort to pool knowledge and resources as well as increase the professionalism of the emerging position of data processing manager.
Data Processing Management Association Records

, University of Minnesota. {{Authority control Organizations established in 1949 1949 establishments in Illinois Information technology organizations based in North America Information technology education Professional associations based in Chicago Non-profit organizations based in Chicago Data processing

History

Ethics

See also

References

External links