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If someone with your skills and know-how needs to
trade money for credibility, then there is something
tragically wrong with our profession. You would think
that the STC, IEEE, and other organizations would
showcase people with such demonstrated abilities and
excellence in the field OUTSIDE of their "closed
community".
This certainly isn't a knock against you, or anyone
else for that matter. It just strikes me as odd -
degree discussion aside - that damned good tech
writers need to struggle so hard to gain acceptance
and credibility within the industries their profession
touches.
I'll be flat out honest; I post under this alias for a
variety of reasons. The primary, and it's a bit
shameful when I think about it, but, is to separate my
credible side from the side of me that just wants to
speak openly without care. I will continue to do so,
as I believe it to be to my benefit, for the very
reason I'm writing about.
I know a lot of "movers and shakers" in the tech
writing world, many of them personally. Ego aside, I
believe I was once considered one myself in certain
areas of our profession until the nature of my work
required I remove myself from any sort of spotlight,
for the very reasons why I post as Goober.
Goober or no, I tend to shoot from the hip; call 'em
like I see 'em. Sometimes this works to my advantage.
Sometimes it doesn't. It's easier to feel this out in
person rather than online. Also, online adds another
level of complexity because virtually all our online
(at least on-list) discussions are archived and
searchable. Something I might say, no matter how valid
(or not) it might be to the current discussion, could
easily be taken out of context by a web search, thus
potentially harming my credibility. Thus, again,
Goober.
Getting back to the point, and relating back to
degrees, I can honestly see *a* value to higher
degrees and certification when it comes to *perceived
credibility*.
Yes, these things will make your resume more visible,
more robust, yadda yadda yadda. BUT, I still maintain
that no level of degree or certification makes a
better tech writer.
As we've seen/heard over the past few days, and over
the past many years, there are people in our field
doing a damn great job as a tech writer who don't even
have a college education, or who have never been
formally trained as a technical writer. These people
might be the absolute best candidate for a job, but
could easily be overshadowed by a potential idiot with
a "MS/PhD in TechComm" brandished on their resume.
Really, and honestly, it's not right, fair, or
beneficial to anyone but the degree-holder. And THAT
is what I find truly sad.
I am not against higher education. I believe it holds
value to those who truly want to learn for the sake of
bettering themselves. But, in todays' society, degrees
and certification really are sought for one primary
purpose - perceived credibility. Again, there are
those who benefit, developmentally, from them, but in
the end, the stamp of achievement is all that seems to
matter to many hiring parties.
I don't know where I'm going with this anymore, but
suffice to say, this is beginning to be a real bummin'
Friday. Reality bites, to coin a phrase. Let's hope
that our larger techcomm communities begin to realize
the true value of external praise for our accomplished
members of the tech comm society.
- Goober
--- Sean Brierley <seanb_us -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
>
> Dood,
>
> I'd trade money for credibility. (No money to trade,
> tho'. LOL!)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Sean
=====
Goober Writer
(because life is too short to be inept)
"As soon as you hear the phrase "studies show",
immediately put a hand on your wallet and cover your groin."
-- Geoff Hart
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