Re[2]: Engineering approach to certification

["Walker, Arlen P" <Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM>]

     The push for recognition is not to close the profession, but to place
     a clear and publicly announced line between those who are
     demonstratably capable and willing to reach a standard, and those who
     pretend to have reached it.

At this point the rhetoric got too deep; you see no one informed me the
certfiable debate was on the agenda again for today (has it been six months
already?) so I left my hip boots at home.

While it's certainly true, beyond all possibility of reasonable dispute,
that many TW's in general and many TW's on this list are certifiable (yes
that's a double entendre, and yes, I could possibly fit either entendre)
what has never been demonstrated is that a test would have any impact on
the profession.

To me, certification absolutely reeks of superstition. I can see the
Neanderthal Tech Writer looking about him, envying the lot of doctors,
lawyers, and the like. He knows he's as good as they are, and casts about
for a reason they are more highly regarded and his eye falls upon the piece
of paper they have tacked up on near the opening of their cave. (This
traditional decoration of the cave's "orifice" forms the root from which
the current term "office" is derived, BTW.) "Aha!" cries NeanderJoe,
slapping himself in the side of the head. "If I get a piece of paper like
that, then I will get Respect and Honor and riche$ and Resistance To Tooth
Decay!" (Unfortunately for Our Hero, he forgot he was holding a hammer and
chisel at the time. Visiting hours are second Tuesday this week, 8 - 4:30.)

Certificates will, alas, *not* raise the quality of work in our field. The
only way to do that is get the hacks who perpetrate the dreck out of our
field. There are two ways to do that:

1) Require certificates of proficiency. Main problem with that is that a
certificate is no indicator of anything except an ability to pass a test.
It might arguably serve as an indicator of what one *can* do (but I'm not
sure I would even go that far); it doesn't begin to serve as an indicator
of what one *will* do. It's still quite possible for certified TW's to
write badly, for any of a hundred different reasons, including Because They
Want To.

2) Refuse to put up with substandard performance, in ourselves and in those
around us. You see someone in your department who's a little lacking, share
some of your knowledge; the department gets better as a whole. (And if they
don't want the help, walk away. Writing Well is the best revenge.) As long
as there are *those* manuals out there (and we all know what I'm referring
to) we could wallpaper the entire company headquarters with certificates
and the reaction of our customers will still be, "So what?"


Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 224

Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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In God we trust; all others must provide data.
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Opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.
If JCI had an opinion on this, they'd hire someone else to deliver it.


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