TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Phillip,
I have stated the answers to your questions already so many times in so
many ways, everyone is tired of hearing it. In case you didn't catch them,
I'll go over them again:
Certification will give us a real profession with identifiable and
certifiable skills. We won't just be a gang of people doing whatever pleases
us and making some money at it. It will give us a way not just to learn
skills but to be qualified for them. And it will put members of the
profession in the driver's seat to decide the standards for the skills that
define the profession.
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
-------------
Original Text
From: Phillip Winn <pwinn -at- S7 -dot- COM>, on 6/17/97 12:38 PM:
> Certification gives you the opportunity to have your skills
>publicly ratified by your peers, the most objective validation
>of skills available.
>It gives you a professional group that not only can identify
>new technologies and challenges, but also equip and certify
>you for them.
Umm, this begs a question. That is, it is an incredible example of circular
reasoning and a non-answer. We need certification to certify us? That's the
result of this message?
Quite frankly, I don't give a wet slap about what my peers think. When it
comes right down to it, only what my employers think is important. In
another message Bill suggested that while a techwhirler and an employer
might agree that samples of work are great, that alone is not an objective
measure of skill. Bull. That is the *only* valid measure of work. I don't
write what I write to please Bill, STC, or anybody else but my employers
and the end users.
All of this certification talk sounds good in theory, much like communism.
Open your eyes, Bill, and take a look around you. You might see
certification as the answer to everyone's problems, but there are a lot of
people on this list who know from experience that certification provides
little or no value to anyone in the long run.
So, Bill, let's hear a couple of answers from you. What is it that you want
to solve with certification? I don't want pithy
for-the-good-of-all-humankind answers, I want to know what you feel you
will personally gain from certification. What makes the idea worth the
money and trouble to you? What is your experience as a techwhirler or as a
hiring manager that has led you to believe certification will mean what you
hope it to mean?
I've given you three questions, please give us three answers.
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html
