A professional society that engineers would build for themselves.
The Society of Engineering Leaders brings together people who lead engineering work, from managers and individual contributors to executives, and judges them on what they've achieved.
The people who lead engineering rarely have peers to talk to.
Inside a company, the hardest conversations, about a reorg, a layoff or a difficult executive relationship, usually can't happen with colleagues. Outside it, the options tend to be paid councils where membership is bought, or communities run by vendors who want something from you.
We wanted something different: a body with a real admission standard, where the only thing that earns standing is the work itself, and where nobody in the room is selling.
And what we're not.
- We are
- A professional body. Admission and grades are decided by independent committees on published criteria.
- We are
- A place for candid peers. Forums and channels kept within each grade, under strict confidentiality.
- We are
- A source of shared data. Benchmarks built from anonymous member surveys and returned to every member.
- We are
- A standard worth meeting. Recognition, including the Fellow designation, that is elected and can't be bought.
- We aren't
- A networking upsell. Paying more never changes admission, grade, recognition or selection for anything.
- We aren't
- A vendor community. Members don't sell to each other, and sponsors have no part in decisions.
- We aren't
- A recruiting channel. Members don't recruit each other's staff in Society spaces.
- We aren't
- An advice service. We don't provide legal, immigration or employment advice, or promise outcomes.
Part of a larger, open community.
The Society operates under the OSS4AI name. OSS4AI is an open community of around 70,000 people, and it stays free and open to everyone.
The Society is the selective part. It governs its own admissions, recognition and discipline through independent committees. OSS4AI may provide staff, systems and event operations under a written agreement approved by the Society's Board, and any such arrangement is disclosed and approved by Directors without a conflict.
Rules first, then members.
Independent committees
The Admissions and Fellows committees include independent members, and the Ethics Committee is separate from both. How we're governed.
Protected principles
The rules that keep payment separate from decisions can only be changed by a supermajority of the Board.
Published numbers
Each year we publish how many people applied and were admitted, by grade.
We're admitting our founding members now.
Founding members go through the same review as everyone after them, and help shape the Society's first forums, events and benchmarks.