Re: Certification

[Karen Mayer <Karen_Mayer -dot- TOUCH_TECHNOLOGY -at- NOTES -dot- COMPUSERVE -dot- COM>]

  Garrett apparently has a lot more confidence in the establishment than I
  do. I have a hard time with other people telling me they know what's best
  for me. If they decide that the only people worthy of certification are
  those with an MS in Technical Communication, 15 years experience and most
  recent salary in excess of $100,000, many of us won't qualify. How
  reasonable will the qualification criteria be? And by whose definition of
  "reasonable?"

  -- Karen

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The only people who have anything to fear from certification are those who
manage to log most of the following bullets...

* scored low on their SAT
* flunked out of school
* lied on their resume
* committed a serious felony on purpose and never regretted it
* relied on the spell-checker a lot
* never joined STC
* got kicked off this mailing list

If you hit any five of those bullets, you may not get certified if and when
it occurs. Even if you do, getting a job still comes down to getting past
an HR department, then a hiring manager, and finally dodging your way
through a 90-day probation period. If you can do all that, you might be a
good writer despite your checkered past. Maybe even certifiable.

The rest of you ought to relax. You're some of the best writers in the
world. No, you don't need no steenking badges. But you may get one anyway.

  --------------------  END OF ORIGINAL MESSAGE  --------------------