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I actually agree with your points; I think they're valid. I'm not certain a tech writing certificate would be all that useful, and I'm not sure I would even support trying to create one. That said, the point I attempted to make was merely that, of any organization out there, the STC IMHO is in the best position to coordinate the creation of a certificate program. So, I'm not arguing pro-certificate; rather, I'm arguing pro-STC as they seem to have the most resources of any entity around for such an endeavor.
Cheers,
Scott
Scott C. Holstad
Technical Writer
City of Knoxville
(865)215-4444
sholstad -at- ci -dot- knoxville -dot- tn -dot- us
The bigger questions are:
What value would certification bring to the certification holder?
Will it provide a better opportunity for promotion and advancement? Will it
result in higher salaries or hourly rates?
Will it mean anything next time the company downsizes?
What kind of certification: a generic "certified technical writer"? What
does that mean and what good will that do?
How long will the certification be valid? One year? Five years?
How could a certification exam possibly cover every industry or field?
What are individual motives for wanting a "certified technical writer"
designation?
Certain states and professions have stringent certification requirements
(law, medicine, engineering) to protect the public from harm. Why would the
technical writing profession need certification?
Some research has already been mentioned that a generic designation has no
effect on hiring or promotion decisions, no matter who runs the
certification process. I have to agree with a previous posting that specific
process or product certifications have the potential for more value than
anything the STC could come up with.
I think that drawing the correlation between the STC being the largest tech
comm organization in the field with its capability to run a bona fide
certification process is a stretch. One reason they haven't bothered with
the idea is because everytime the topic comes up, the membership feedback is
overwhelmingly in favor of NOT pursuing the issue.
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