Certification

[David_Dubin -at- NOTES -dot- PW -dot- COM]

After reading the latest postings by Andy Woodhouse and Victor Chapel, I would
like to provide my 5 cents (inflation) to this thread.  As I said before,
certification for a technical writer is only valid when we can successfully
answer at least the following questions:
What type of degree is to be required?
Why is a degree required if one has so many years experience?
How many years of experience covers a B.A. degree or an A.A. degree?
What type of experience will be acceptable?
What aspects of the writing discipline are to be covered by certification?
FINALLY, who decides all the above???

At any rate, I do agree that the problems Andy and Victor faced are real
problems that could have been solved by certification on the TECHNOLOGY of our
discipline. Ideally, candidates should bring certificates of completion for
training on applications like Frame (which is not easy to fake) or CorelDraw.
It would also be nice if we could "test" a candidate's knowledge on a
particular application such as FRAME, or Authorware before they are considered
for the position, but then we are getting into the gray areas in which HR folks
and lawyers become involved.

David Dubin -at- notes -dot- pw -dot- com
This has been one man's opinion, yours may vary with mileage........unless
mileage won't substitute for a degree.

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