Meeting other people in the IT field has other advantages: the more people you know the easier it is to find work. Getting a job is all about who you know. Being a member of AITP looks good on a resume. It adds credibility to your credentials. AITP provides opportunities to take on leadership roles that can help propel a member into management. .
Section I.
History of AITP.
The Association of Information Technology for Professionals was born from humble beginnings. In the late 1940's and early 1950's machines were introduced into the workplace. Since this was new equipment, there were no experts in the field. In 1949 a group of machine accountants using TAB machines (a punch card system) got together to discuss problems that they were having with these new devices. In 1951 they were granted a charter from the state of Illinois and formed the National Machine Accountants Association (NMAA). During their first year of operation, NMAA had 27 chapters form or join. In 1952 they held their first convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota. .
In 1962 the NMAA changed their name to DPMA or Data Processing Management Association. This move was made to increase membership by inviting not only accounting and finance people to join their organization but to include computer users as well. The DPMA maintained NMAA's structure. Later they took the geographic divisions of NMAA and made them into regions. Each region has a representative on the Executive Council. The DPMA developed two certification programs, the Certificate in Data Processing or CDP in 1962 and the Registered Business Programmer or RBG in 1970. Finally in 1998, DPMA changed their name again, this time to the Association of Information Technology Professionals. .
Today AITP has 5,000 professional members in 200 chapters across the country1. It's members include IS managers, programming-system designers, system engineeers, sales and marketing managers, educators, consultants, researchers and publishers.