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Re: Certification: My Personal Survey [Ref:C660317]
Subject:Re: Certification: My Personal Survey [Ref:C660317] From:Geoff -dot- King -at- NA -dot- NWMARKETS -dot- COM Date:Fri, 13 Jun 1997 21:00:04 +0100
Thank you very much, everybody, for your contributions on the certification
issues. They are all very helpful for the articles I am writing on the
subject. I am also reading through the hundreds of comments on the archives.
Briefly, this is what I have learned so far:
Those opposed to certification use the following arguments:
1. Technical writers have no certifiable skills.
2. There is no way to identify those skills.
3. There is no way to test those skills.
5. No certification process would be meaningful.
6. The STC is not capable of conducting a meaningful certification
program.
7. No organization is capable of conducting a meaningful certification
program.
8. Any employer should be able to evaluate a writer's skills from the
resume, the portfolio, and an interview.
9. The free market will sort out the good and bad technical communicators.
Bill--
I don't need a rhetoric 101 course to see which side of the fence you fall
down on with this argument. Studying rhetoric means, among other things,
a study in the manipulation of data, and your presentation is a case in
point. Quick, repetitive bullets for those against certification and a
virtually novella for each point in favor.
Cut it out.
geoff -dot- king -at- na -dot- nwmarkets -dot- com
Bill DuBay
Technical Writer
Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
email: bill_dubay -at- phoenix -dot- com
(714)790-2049 FAX: (714)790-2001 http://www.phoenix.com
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