RE: Fear of certification?

Subject: RE: Fear of certification?
From: "Mark Baker" <mbaker -at- ca -dot- stilo -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 14:48:20 -0500


Geoff Hart wrote

> Editors and translators have been certified for years, and I've yet to see
> any major payoff from the certification process: employers
> generally aren't
> aware of the certificates and don't use them for screening purposes, and
> people who have earned the certificates don't enjoy better job security or
> higher earnings.

Certification exists to protect consumers, not to protect practitioners.
Practitioners in many fields have invented certifications for themselves in
the hopes of bettering their status. As both Geoff and Connie have pointed
out, consumers take no notice. Until and unless consumers feel the need to
be protected against poor practice by a certification process, it won't
matter a fig whether you have one or not.

> Let's spend our efforts where they have a chance for some payback:
> demonstrating that we have a profession, that our efforts add value, and
> that it pays to hire a professional. Once we've accomplished
> that, _then_ it makes sense to develop a certification program.

Not unless consumers start to demand the protection.

But even if they do, you are still stuck with the same basic problem that we
have had all along: Define the criteria for certification. Every time this
debate returns, I ask the same question: What measurable skills or knowledge
are required by all technical writers, and are not required by educated
people in general? Until someone can provide a convincing list, the question
of certification is moot.

---
Mark Baker
Stilo Corporation
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Phone: 613-745-4242, Fax: 613-745-5560
Email mbaker -at- ca -dot- stilo -dot- com
Web: http://www.stilo.com

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References:
Fear of certification?: From: Hart, Geoff

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