Re: Technical Writer Certification

[Peter Neilson <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>]

As far as I am aware there is no valid certification in TW. And I cannot 
see how there could be. On the other hand, the question about 
certification appears here in TECHWR-L from time to time, and I always 
wonder what effect certification would have on the profession.

Here are some qualities that might be conceivably considered by a 
certifying body. Or might instead be ignored.

Typing speed.
Ability to program in C.
Ditto Pascal, RPG and Cobol.
Ditto Python, Perl and Ruby.
Ability to make silk purses out of available materials.
Certification in MS Word.
Familiarity with FrameMaker.
Ditto Structured FrameMaker.
Ability to deal with hostile SMEs.

Except for the typing speed and the supposed Certification in MS Word, I 
have no idea how to test for those things.

Of all the criteria, only the silk purse and the SME have validity in my 
mind.

My wife and I are both certifiable. We have too many horses.

Brian Bertrand wrote in part:

> ... sufficient, but I cannot help but think that having some form of
> certification would definitely help put a bit more shine on my file.  There
> is a site called www.techwriter-certification.com that offers various
> certifications in partnership with UMass Amherst and others, has anyone on
> list completed this kind of certification?  Have you found that it is
> valuable or is it not worth the time and money?  Thanks for your help!
> 

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