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I've been feeling this week that some people are setting their hair on fire
and running about the room about certification when it's not even created
yet. Truly, the world is not ending yet.
I've been saying (and Bill and Steve and John, I think, have been saying)
that certification is in process, it's not set in stone yet. That it's not
going to *get* you a job - rather it *may* float your resume to the short
list. After you short list, it's up to you in the interview process to
actually nail the job. It's always up to you to actually nail a job.
Certification in any field never ever says this person is not an idiot.
Certification says, I think, This person knows the best practices and how to
implement them in their field. It doesn't say they will actually do it for
you, it just says they know what these things are. They may be complete
dorks in the workplace for other reasons. Certification can't speak to that.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+sharon=anthrobytes -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+sharon=anthrobytes -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Pinkham, Jim
Sent: Friday, July 23, 2010 7:03 AM
To: John Posada
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com; stevefjong -at- comcast -dot- net
Subject: RE: Re: Certification: Ernest and Scribbler
Let me put it another way:
Certification might have some relevance to the first key question of
prospective employment: Do I understand the job? As you suggest, it
implies exposure to this Body of Knowledge that some have described as
an attempt in progress. "The Right Way" and "how any professional writer
handles situations at work" are incredibly broad realms to encompass,
though, given the diversity of our profession. Certainly, trying to
create a believable, useful certification, in this light, is ambitious.
For discussion's sake, let's assume it could be done. Still, at it's
best, certification would be only one possible tool for determining
whether a candidate understands a job.
If the candidate is certified, will the certificate tell me that person
can do the job I have in mind? It might give me an inkling and some
cause for hope, but it's no guarantor. And, as I noted at the first,
it's certainly no assurance that the candidate can do the job as the
employer desires it be done. Or that the candidate can do the work
profitably for the enterprise.
I share the concerns of those who've intimated certification could
insert an unwonted and unwanted stumblingblock in the path of competent,
qualified people seeking work. And of those who suspect it could give
false confidence to some prospective employers to conclude that a
certified person would naturally be right and best for their needs and
situations.
So, I, too, hope it would not pave a path for idiots. Or dredge a moat
that keeps out otherwise capable people who choose, for whatever reason,
not to go down the certification road.
After some reflection, I suspect what I was responding to yesterday is
the sense that at least some in the proponent camp have higher hopes for
what certification could, would, or should do than appears warranted. As
one data point, but not a sine qua non, to weigh in a hiring decision,
it might have some utility. Ascribing more weight to it than that,
however, seems unwise.
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