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>Maybe there could be multiple types of certification - one for those
>doing policy & procedures, another for software tech writers, etc.
>There's no reason that there should be a one-size-fits-all approach -
>this has just led to alienation and disagreement.
I agree with Robert on that last line, because I believe that a one-size-fits-all approach really can't possibly work. A year ago I was writing commercial aircraft jet engine maintenance manuals - lots of emphasis on welding, grinding, inspections, and torque limits. Today I'm writing network operation and configuration manuals - lots of emphasis on servers, security, nodes, VPNs, and traps.
How on earth do you come up with a "certification" that covers both of these areas?
And even specific area certifications have their limits. An A&P license* would have been great for the jet engine job, but useless for where I am now (geez, we don't even -have- airplanes at this base!). A CNE might be good here, but wouldn't have done me squat when I was trying to figure out how to repair a low-pressure turbine on a CF-34 engine.
My personal opinion is that one of the big roadblocks to certification is that we in this profession tend to hop from job to job, which frequently means "from subject matter to subject matter." (I'm not the only one who does this, am I?) A certificate will be limiting in those circumstances. I was working at Lucent four years ago when telecom crashed, I'm glad that when I went for the jet engine job the boss didn't say "So, let's see that tech writing certificate...oh, wait, telecom and networks...sorry, we can't use you here." And I'm equally glad that when the jet engine pubs manager said "This office is closing down" I wasn't stuck with the option of moving cross-country (to another jet engine plant) or going into real estate sales.
In other words, I think a hypothetical certification would have to be either general enough to apply to every tech writer in every possible field (which would render it essentially useless), or specific enough to lock people into choices of career fields. Again, my personal opinion, but that last alternative is highly dangerous when one considers that technology changes rapidly. I'd venture to say that most of us here today are writing about things that did not exist ten years ago, and in 2014 those of us who are still tech writers will be documenting things that do not exist today.
>I just don't understand why it is taking such a well-established org
>such a long and difficult time to deal with this issue.
So far as I know, it's not that it is taking the STC a long time, it's rather that the STC has looked at it and concluded that certification is beyond the scope of the organization...for exactly the same reasons as people are presenting here.
Also keep in mind regarding a "long time" that this issue has been discussed on this very list for at LEAST ten years, and we are exactly as far along on it as were in 1994.
(I wrote the following three paragraphs before reading Sharon Burton's message, so they're somewhat obsolete for the purposes of the discussion.)
But back to the STC for a moment: remember, the STC isn't some huge, well-organized, multi-departmental, massively staffed bureaucratic organization with crack team ready to pounce on critical issues and issue industry-wide solutions.
The STC really consists of a relatively small staff, the members of which I think are pretty much fully occupied in getting out the publications, keeping track of the chapters, and ensuring that the annual conference goes off as planned.
To use the old cliché, "The STC is really all its members." It's not a "they" to which we can pass the buck. The STC is mainly composed of people who chose to belong to it, but have other full-time responsibilities. A small group of people get together to plan things like monthly meetings with presentations that seem relevant to the profession, but the fact is we've (ideally) all got full-time jobs which occupy most of our attention. If "the STC" was to somehow initiate certification, it would really mean something that would be developed by people like us working at a local level and somehow contributing upwards. I'm really not quite sure how that could be successfully carried off.
>And there are many more examples. Microsoft MCSE and Adobe ACE programs.
These are excellent programs. Not to harp on my earlier point, but does either of these teach me how to determine the correct gas flow rate when TIG welding a compressor frame?
>In technical communication one gets a form of certification when one
>finishes a technical communication certificate or degree program. For
>example, the MS in Technical Communication from Rensselaer Polytechnical
>Institute in Troy, NY:
>http://www.rsvp.rpi.edu/academics/degrees/mstechcomm.shtml
Yep. And as an alumni of that program (class of '84), I can tell you that it's very generic. The most value that you get with the degree is that when you're fresh out of the program with no job experience to show, your first employer knows "Well, if you made the grade at RPI then we know that you're smart, learn quickly, adapt well to pressure, and you're capable of putting words together into sentences that can be comprehended." And that's really about all that can be expected of -any- degree in any field. After that first job, you're on your own to prove yourself based on past accomplishments.
Yeah, we learned some computer-related specifics at RPI when I was in the program. But that was 20 years ago, and its only practical use today is in telling some quaint history stories involving typos on punch cards. Looking at the program today I can see it is highly relevant to today's environment, but around the year 2024 some member of the class of '04 will be saying the same thing I am right now. ("Yep, that was back in the days when we used -keyboards-.")
I am not saying the following to knock RPI in the slightest, it is a valuable degree program. I'm proud to have been there and I recommend it to anyone who is interested, but the most practical thing that I -personally- got out of it was when one of the professors (the late Dr. Dave Carson) for a class project passed out copies of his old F-102 jet fighter flight manual, and said "Rewrite this so that it makes sense." The result was a writing sample that landed me a tech writing job at Lockheed, and in the end that's what proved to be the most important contribution to my career. All the other participants got something else out of it, we all ended up with jobs fairly quickly, and that's why we were there in the first place.
In the end, it comes down to the fact that we've -had- certification for a long time. The RPI program goes back to 1924, IIRC. More recent degree programs include Northeastern and Southern Polytechnic, plus there are a gaggle of "certificate" programs at places like Middlesex Community College (http://noncredit.middlesex.cc.ma.us/stwp/). The academic "certification" from these institutes is in the form of a sheepskin, which leads to a pay stub. Ultimately, it's the latter which turns out to be the most important certification for many of us.
--Rick Lippincott
Bedford, MA
* When I say "A&P" that's "Airframe & Powerplant," not a reference to a defunct grocery store chain.
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