Re: Certification

[John Biederman <johnb -at- MAIL -dot- ENTEK -dot- COM>]

I'll have to weigh in on the side of those who feel that a degree does not
automatically qualify one as a technical writer. On a past job, I've worked
with a degreed technical writer who took _forever_ to learn the subject
matter, and even longer to learn how to structure information logically.

I've also gotten "certified" in an unrelated field, purely as a result of
management's requirements--and the test was no measure of my ability. So I'm
curious about developing standard measures of competence in technical
writing. Would they include me?

I have degrees in Geology, and a single (one quarter) class in Technical
Writing. I became a technical writer because I was about to be laid off as a
programmer. Now, after three years and some months, I have two "Awards of
Distinguished Technical Communication" from our Southwestern Ohio STC
competition--one for a manual, and one for online help. Are awards measures
of competency?

PLEASE NOTE: I write this not to brag, but to question: what are you going
to measure? And how?

John B.
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