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>On our last attempt at hiring writers, we got one from a man who had
>written "procedures for carrying out duties while in the army" and
>another whose sole experience was "wrote a manual on bowling."
>We've talked (and whined) a lot about the issue of certification on
>this list, but I support it 100%. Until we start taking ourselves and
>our education seriously, we can't expect our employers or the general
>public to do so, either.
I certainly agree, as Larry Kunz keeps saying, that we need to take
ourselves seriously if we expect others to take us and our profession seriously.
No amount of certification, however, will necessarily induce employers to
change their hiring practices. If they get a product they're happy with from
someone they're paying peanuts to, why should they pay more.
You can't legislate respect and demand for quality. If the end user doesn't
insist on it, if the client doesn't care about it, there's no way you can
charge a premium for it. ...RM
Richard Mateosian Freelance Technical Writer
srm -at- c2 -dot- org Copyright 1996 Review Editor, IEEE Micro http://www.c2.org/~srm/ All rights reserved President, Berkeley STC
