Re: Certification: opposing views

[Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM]

       For one thing,
      someone would have to be a good writer to achieve certification.

As my lawyer friends might say, "You're assuming facts not in evidence."
I've never seen a certification program that didn't pass its share of
duds. People aren't perfect, therefore they cannot design a perfect
process. Bad writers *will* achieve certification, and good ones will not.
We can discuss the numbers in those two groups all we want, but it's
frankly not possible that both sets will be empty.

      It does not have to be a formal degree program, but
      having a certification standard in place would also help technical
      writing programs in setting some kind of standards in both course
      offering and goals.

Yes, and Novell has a certification standard in place for gaining a CNE,
and it's legendary how many people have been certified that can't do the
job. (I'm not slamming *all* CNE's, just the incompetent ones. If any of
you think I'm talking about you specifically, then I guess it shows us just
what you think of *your* skills, doesn't it?)


Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 124

Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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