&gt; the first is that in order to be licensed nurses, like doctors and lawyers, have to pass an intensive test known as &quot;boards.&quot;<p>Board certification is not a legal requirement in any jurisdiction I am aware of.  The licensure tests and board certifications are separate, and the former is generally taken very close to when the doctor, lawyer, or nurse graduates from their program and completes their internship period.<p>&gt; The second is that licensing, certification, and recertification are functions of state government, not voluntary industry guidelines.<p>Yes and no.  State governments decide what they will recognize, but industry provides the training.  Some of the shit that counts as &quot;continuing education&quot; for the medical profession is little better than what you get at DeVry for programmers.<p>That said, at least these professions have strong professional associations that birddog state licensing boards to keep the bullshit out.  My original comment, in fact, was motivated by IEEE and ACM&#x27;s attempts to do the same for software engineers and the way the industry seems to be laughing at their efforts.