RE: Re: Certification: Ernest and Scribbler

Subject: RE: Re: Certification: Ernest and Scribbler
From: "Sharon Burton" <sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com>
To: "'Pinkham, Jim'" <Jim -dot- Pinkham -at- voith -dot- com>, "'John Posada'" <jposada99 -at- gmail -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2010 07:26:41 -0700

I appreciate the reasoned response below.

I've been feeling this week that some people are setting their hair on fire
and running about the room about certification when it's not even created
yet. Truly, the world is not ending yet.

I've been saying (and Bill and Steve and John, I think, have been saying)
that certification is in process, it's not set in stone yet. That it's not
going to *get* you a job - rather it *may* float your resume to the short
list. After you short list, it's up to you in the interview process to
actually nail the job. It's always up to you to actually nail a job.

Certification in any field never ever says this person is not an idiot.
Certification says, I think, This person knows the best practices and how to
implement them in their field. It doesn't say they will actually do it for
you, it just says they know what these things are. They may be complete
dorks in the workplace for other reasons. Certification can't speak to that.


My thoughts, any way.


sharon

Sharon Burton
Content Consultant
www.anthrobytes.com
951-369-8590
IM: sharonvburton -at- yahoo -dot- com
Twitter: sharonburton
Blog:anthrobytes.wordpress.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/sharonvburton



-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+sharon=anthrobytes -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+sharon=anthrobytes -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Pinkham, Jim
Sent: Friday, July 23, 2010 7:03 AM
To: John Posada
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com; stevefjong -at- comcast -dot- net
Subject: RE: Re: Certification: Ernest and Scribbler

Let me put it another way:

Certification might have some relevance to the first key question of
prospective employment: Do I understand the job? As you suggest, it
implies exposure to this Body of Knowledge that some have described as
an attempt in progress. "The Right Way" and "how any professional writer
handles situations at work" are incredibly broad realms to encompass,
though, given the diversity of our profession. Certainly, trying to
create a believable, useful certification, in this light, is ambitious.
For discussion's sake, let's assume it could be done. Still, at it's
best, certification would be only one possible tool for determining
whether a candidate understands a job.

If the candidate is certified, will the certificate tell me that person
can do the job I have in mind? It might give me an inkling and some
cause for hope, but it's no guarantor. And, as I noted at the first,
it's certainly no assurance that the candidate can do the job as the
employer desires it be done. Or that the candidate can do the work
profitably for the enterprise.

I share the concerns of those who've intimated certification could
insert an unwonted and unwanted stumblingblock in the path of competent,
qualified people seeking work. And of those who suspect it could give
false confidence to some prospective employers to conclude that a
certified person would naturally be right and best for their needs and
situations.

So, I, too, hope it would not pave a path for idiots. Or dredge a moat
that keeps out otherwise capable people who choose, for whatever reason,
not to go down the certification road.

After some reflection, I suspect what I was responding to yesterday is
the sense that at least some in the proponent camp have higher hopes for
what certification could, would, or should do than appears warranted. As
one data point, but not a sine qua non, to weigh in a hiring decision,
it might have some utility. Ascribing more weight to it than that,
however, seems unwise.



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Follow-Ups:

References:
RE: Re: Certification: Ernest and Scribbler: From: Gene Kim-Eng
Re: Re: Certification: Ernest and Scribbler: From: John Posada
Re: Re: Certification: Ernest and Scribbler: From: Bill Swallow
Re: Re: Certification: Ernest and Scribbler: From: John Posada
RE: Re: Certification: Ernest and Scribbler: From: Pinkham, Jim
Re: Re: Certification: Ernest and Scribbler: From: John Posada
RE: Re: Certification: Ernest and Scribbler: From: Pinkham, Jim

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