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Ah, Stephen, you have good tech writer instincts. For the full story, go to the STC itself. You can even call the office and ask to speak with the person in charge of the program for a detailed explanation. I gave only a 10,000 foot summary.
Since you asked, the DOL info came from the 2009 Summit and from discussions with people closely involved with the project. But I do encourage you to go straight to the source for the specifics.
Thanks for asking.
Marguerite
________________________________
From: Stephen Arrants <steve -at- mbfbioscience -dot- com>
To: Marguerite Krupp <mkrupp128 -at- yahoo -dot- com>; Dan Goldstein <DGoldstein -at- riverainmedical -dot- com>; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 9:00 AM
Subject: RE: STC certification program
Marguerite Krupp says:
> One criterion for being a profession, according to DoL, is that there
must be
> some sort of entrance exam or test sequence that people must pass to
claim
> that job title of Professional Technical Communicator. So this effort
by the
> STC to gain official recognition for us as a profession required that
there be
> such a test, and STC set out to develop not one but a suite of tests.
They are
> not supposed to relate to any particular technology area, but rather
to
> measure technical communication skills.
>
[Stephen Arrants]
I'm not sure I want the STC to have the power to regulate technical
writing the
way other professional organizations regulate, say, medicine or
accounting.
Where are you getting the DOL information? The DOL doesn't regulate
adding Professional to a title. They have a
"Professional Bass Fisher" classification http://www.bls.gov/soc/soc_2010_direct_match_title_file.xls ; , and
I don't know what kind of entrance exam or suite of tests you take to
get called that...
My gut feeling is that the STC is telling the DOL that the only way to
tell if someone is a Professional Technical
Communicator is if the STC--as an organization the DOL relies on for
information--says is a Professional
Technical Communicator. Sounds like the fox guarding the henhouse to me.
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