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>I could probably say that about my entire college education. I don't think
>I ever used more than 20% of what I had to learn to get my BSME, even
>when I was working *as* an ME.
Fair enough. Most of us don't use a LOT of what we learned in college. But
we were in *college*, not at work.
My understanding is that the majority of this list is comprised of working
tech writers. Do you really want to spend your free time and money on
certification? If you do, that's great, but I have MANY things I'd rather do
with my time.
Let's get hypothetical. You're doing a job that utilizes skills A, B, and C.
You're doing well, but decide you want to move to another city. You find a
job available in the new city, and it's a perfect fit: they're looking for
somebody skilled at A, B, and C. But they also want you to have some
newly-coined certification, for which you will not qualify without 9 months
of skill D, even though skill D is not listed as a job requirement for this
specific job.
THAT's what I see coming from all of this.
I get it all the time dealing with RFPs. Companies want to know if we're
ISO9000 certified, even though THEY are not, and even though their questions
indicate that they don't know much about what that certification entails,
nor do they seem to have any good reason for asking, other than to employ
the current buzzword. With tech writing certification, I can just see the HR
drones of companies everywhere using this criteria as a yes/no decision in
screening job applicants.
That's the problem: certificates oversimplify.
-Keith Cronin
stopping now, I promise :)
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