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Andrew Plato wrote:
[...]
> This was never more blatant to me than last year when a few of us at my firm
> tried to put together a technical study group for writers. We were going to try
> to become Microsoft certified. [...]
> On the second meeting, one of these STC people announced to the group that she
> thought this type of technical training was "useless" and that she had spoken
> with "a number of technical publications managers" who told her that such
> technical training would not encourage them to hire a candidate. Then, over the
> next few weeks the STC folks went to work on the attendees. They would email
> attendees and tell them that this was a waste of time and that they shouldn't
> go. Attendance plummeted and eventually, we just did the study group among
> ourselves.
>
> It was another STC moment that affirmed what I always believed to be true. STC
> outright discourages writers from obtaining technical training. STC and it
> wants to make sure writers remain non-technical, so they will continue to see
> value in the parade on one-off issues they champion.
[...]
As one of the tech writers who initially joined and then left that study
group, I can attest that my involvement with STC had nothing to do with my
decision to abandon the certification process. I, too, had been hearing
from many people, both technical and non-technical, that although an MCSE
certification may impress some people, it wouldn't really be worth the time
and money -- especially since the material was predominantly review for me
anyway.
Since then, I've been glad I made that decision. I needed the money in the
short-term, and my time turned out to be better spent boning up on the
technologies I tend to work with more frequently, such as Oracle and Java.
Furthermore, I never received email from any STC representative urging me
not to attend the group. No one with STC suggested to me that it was a
waste of time. Perhaps other attendees did receive these messages, but they
obviously forgot to CC me.
It sounds to me like you're jumping to damning conclusions about the
influence of STC in its members professional actions.
- Kate O'
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