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>Is it worthwhile for a practitioner to be STC certified?
Oh, boy, what a can of worms you've re-opened! :-).
When people reply, please keep in mind that you're likely to receive vastly different answers from this list (which contains many ex-STC members, many of whom were very unhappy with STC) and any of the STC lists.
This has been extensively discussed on this list; go to the archives, http://www.techwr-l.com/archives/, and in the Search box enter "stc certification".
My answer is, "it depends." I think that for new practitioners, it can be a good thing, and something to set a writer apart from other newbie writers. For "seasoned" practitioners, I think it not particularly useful in-and-of-itself, but to the extent that it makes one take the time to critically evaluate one's own work and to create in essence a digital portfolio, it's a great exercise. And for mid-career writers, I'd say if you've time available (perhaps during a job-hunt time), it couldn't hurt, but if one is busy with work and near-term prospects seem good, then why bother.
I don't think the certification helps or hurts in terms of impressing hiring managers--by which I mean the people who cull resumes, the non-informed recruiters, and the like, not actual Tech Pubs managers. I've yet to find a recruiter who seems to know what STC is, and so a certification from them wouldn't carry any weight at all.
I think it a good thing that STC offers this, but have not bothered with it myself given my "seasoned" status and my good fortune to be in the San Francisco Bay Area, where there are many available contracts for my specialty (API documentation).
HTH,
-Monique
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