RE: technical writing certification

["Ehr, Meg" <Meg -dot- Ehr -at- smartworks -dot- com>]

Earl Cooley said:

>Here's the outline for that TW Brainbench test. It looks fairly
humbling....

<http://www.brainbench.com/xml/bb/common/testcenter/courseoutline.xml?testId
=245>


The problem with the Brainbench test is that it's multiple-guess. I think
there were maybe one or two questions per topic, so it wasn't exactly
comprehensive. Even if you don't know anything about a topic, if you guess
well, you can get a good score. You can answer many of the questions
successfully even if you have little experience with the topic, but read
TECHWR-L regularly. I'm not sure what the goal of the test is -- maybe to
show your overall familiarity with concepts in the field -- but it doesn't
measure you against a defined set of accepted industry standards, which is
what I think of when I think of "certification." In fact, I have no idea who
developed the test.

Also, I have no idea how Brainbench is regarded among employers. Has anyone
out there found Brainbench scores to be useful in a job search or for career
advancement?

I took the test (and 10 others) when it was free, but I wouldn't pay for it
now without knowing how it would benefit me.

Meg Ehr

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