Re: certification

[Elna Tymes <etymes -at- LTS -dot- COM>]

Nick Marino wrote:

> Your implied misconception here is that somehow it is employers who are behind
> the certification process.  Also why do you think that the goal of any
> certification is to limit the employee pool.  Often times, certification simply
> offers a means of attaining higher salaries.

Except that it's not the way things work here.  Think about the general category
"writer."  There are lots of people out there who write for a living.  Some of them
get famous - and maybe even rich - by writing novels or biographies or other widely
read and published books.  We have no certification process for that kind of
writer, do we?  Why should it be different for technical writers?

> Certification is not about controlling you or anyone; its about an agreed upon
> body of knowledge that is established as a standard in order to upgrade or
> maintain the quality of the practitioners in it.

And the problem with that is that there is NO "agreed upon body of knowledge" that
universally applies to technical writers.  We don't have any equivalent of IRS code
to interpret in the same way, which is one way to measure a CPA's knowledge. We
don't even write about the same things - some people who are legitimately technical
writers describe intricate medical procedures or implements, and some who are
equally legitimate technical writers describe handsaws and coffeepots for the
military.  Still more describe how software works.  Etc.

We have discussed the issue of certification to death several times in the last
year.  I, for one, vote to terminate the discussion unless, after carefully reading
the archives on the subject, you have something new to offer.

Elna Tymes
Los Trancos Systems


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