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Subject:Re: certification From:eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 17 Apr 2003 15:46:18 -0400
>>The IT field uses certifications extensively to establish baseline expertise
>>in everything from network installations to database developement. There is
>>no reason whatsoever why the same types of certifications could not be
>>developed for technical writers/communicators, and those certifications
>>would benefit the entire industry.
What industry are you talking about? Certainly not techwriting. The "IT Field"
has dozens if not hundreds of organisations and certifying bodies. Different
OSes, different programming languages, different technologies, different
vendors, etc. To that list of hundreds of possibilities, add the thousands of
other fields and technologies a techwriter might be involved in.
While industry/skill specific qualifications/credentials may be a good idea to
help find work or to help skim applicants, I've yet to see one certifiable skill
that wouldn't be better certified by the specific industry than a techwriter
society. It may be that the techwriters in various industries need to have the
industry group (IEEE, SAE, FDA, ASME) define the subset of knowledge required by
the writers in that industry. A techwriter's society's place IMO is to help
co-ordinate any overlapping between industries, communicate the various
qualification possibilities to techwriters at large, coerce industries to create
techwriting specific qualifications, and perhaps organise/manage the actual
training/publication/development.
To find work or to skim applicants, IMO are the only reasons any number of
techwriters would get certified, and the only reason any employer would endorse
the certification. At first the certification may be used to instruct current
techwriters, later once a large enough number have the credentials they'll be
used as employment requirements. Why is it MSCE is so popular? Doesn't matter if
you are a hot shot with the subject matter, few places will hire you if you
haven't sat through the courses. I have a couple of friends who had to get
certified and were convinced they were made more stupid by the process than
anything else.
Eric L. Dunn
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