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I don't think certification is that workable in the US. Our culture
focuses on results and abilities, not education or letters after the
name. Inevitably, people will resist having to "jump through hoops" (as
they would call it) to be certified.
I thought hard about all the *standard, accepted* certifications I know
of. I could think of
* Accounting - CPA
* Law - Law board
* Medicine - Medical boards, specialist boards
* Engineering - many exist, but by far the most common are PE
(professional engineer) and SE (structural engineer)
* Software - mostly network management (Microsoft, Cisco, Netware)
One might also say that a PhD is a "certification".
Don't these all fall into the category of "protect the public" or
"restrict members" or "know what you're buying"? We're not being forced
by the government to protect the public from shoddy documentation,
but...?
Do we need to or want to restrict members? And as for knowing what we're
getting when we hire someone, well, education and experience may be just
as good.
Joe Malin
Technical Writer
(408)625-1623
jmalin -at- tuvox -dot- com
www.tuvox.com
The views expressed in this document are those of the sender, and do not
necessarily reflect those of TuVox, Inc.
-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-216553 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-216553 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Dick
Margulis
Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2005 5:23 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Certification--a new concept. Discuss.
Dinner conversation. My wife is NOT bothering to study for her ten-year
recertification exam that she has to take on Monday, in her field, which
has only had certification for twenty-odd years and which most hiring
managers have still not heard of but she has to take the exam to keep
using the letters after her name. I brought up the quandary we
perennially encounter in discussing tech writing certification. Here's
her insight:
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