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> No other communications profession is as frightened of the concept of
> certification/accreditation as technical communications seems to be.
Frightened? That's an interesting way to paint those that disagree with you.
Personally, I could care less if tech writing has a certification or not. My
career has long since moved past tech writing into other things. So, if you
people want certification - have fun.
I have a few certifications, ones that are actually hard to obtain. I have a
CISSP as well as some industry certs (Cisco, Watchguard, etc.)
These certs make sense because there is a tangible and contained common body of
knowledge (CBK) that is expected. The CISSP was fun. It has 15 (or so) areas of
knowledge. Each is a whole career in and of itself. To get your CISSP you have
to referred by another CISSP, be able to demonstrate 3+ years of experience in
information security, and you have to take a grueling 6 hr test. The test is
quite hard and a reasonable percentage (like 25% or so) don't pass.
How can you have a CBK for tech writing? And who will develop it? The problem
with tech writing cert is not the concept of certification, its the logistics
of who will develop it.
If the usual cast of yahoos in the tech writing royalty and STC are the ones
who create a certification, I can assure you it will be a completely laughable
process. A process where pet obsessions and nonsense one-off work is heralded
as the pinnacle of the tech writing arts.
Thus, the obvious answer to this would be to form some independent body (not in
any way shape or form affiliated with STC) that can build a tough and honest
certification program. However, I fear such a group will have a hard time
keeping the nitpickers and STC royalty out of the group. These people have
become accustomed to people looking up to them as they yammer on about their
personal tales of horror and misery having to get up and go to work everyday.
So, if such a group is to succeed, it must find a way to prevent the typical
self-aggrandizing and pet-obsession pushing that goes on in the tech writing
world. I suspect that will mean alienating a lot of people who are perpetually
in a hissy fit over some perceived injustice or slight of character.
However, any serious attempt to create a certification effort is will be
useless unless the people working on it have a source of funding. For all the
discussion about certification here on TECHWR-L, not a single person has
explained to me how their high-and-mighty certification goals will be funded.
Who is going to pay to develop this process?
Whether certification make sense or not - who cares. The people who want
certification need to answer some more basic questions:
1. Who will fund the development?
2. Who will manage the CBK?
3. Who will develop the CBK
4. How will this give value to writers and employers.
Forget the personal anecdotes and justifications that this won't just be a
popularity contest. Start by answering some real tough questions like "who are
you going to get to sign a check that will fund this development?"
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