Certification Exists, Gang!

[Richard Dimock <red -at- ELSEGUNDOCA -dot- ATTGIS -dot- COM>]

I repeat:

        FREEDOM!

Let each CHOOSE their own path.


There already exists a method of "Certification" as tech
writers. It is called "College Degree".

If y'all want to get certification as a certified tech writer,
who can certifiably tech write, then y'all can certainly
CHOOSE go to school nights.

Nothing else inspires awe in the Employer's mind as a Genuine

BS - BA
MS - MA
PhD

In Technical Communication, OR the associated technical field
itself.

CERTIFICATION ALREADY EXISTS, GANG!  Use it if you CHOOSE.

But don't drag others who are already producing just fine,
thank you, into the program with you.

Let Employers CHOOSE whether they want to pay some high
salary for a PhD Tech Writer, with fresh diploma in hand,
or perhaps hire one old hand and a junior for the same cash.

Degrees DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE in the hiring process.
Employers are ALREADY looking for those **certificates**
called  **degrees**.

Any other **certification** system ol' STC might provide
would also require night school, and would also look good
to the Employer. But compared to a good old fashioned DEGREE,
the puny **certificate** would lose consistently in the
marketplace.

Ain't no Free Lunch, people. You can pay some dues in a
college degree program. You can pay some dues in years
writing on the job. But don't keep on hoping somebody
will come up with a certification program which will
instantly grandfather/mother you in and make you worth
$$ thousands more overnight!

Now I'll take my keyboard down off this soapbox and hang
it back on its peg on the wall.


Dick Dimock,    Artfully Senior Tech Writer, BSEE
AT&T Global Information Solutions
El Segundo, CA  Overlooking the Blue Pacific and white
                sails gliding out to disappear in the
                smog layer.