[TCP] certification (was: ranting STC)

[John Posada]

> Don't hold your breath.  In the absence of a law that requires me 
> as a hiring manager to only employ "certified tech writers," the 
> supply of people available to mw to fill a tech writing position 
> will continue to include anyone I choose to consider, i.e., 
> anyone with technical knowledge who I think I can make a tech 
> writer out of.  That's my whole point about the "value" (or lack
> thereof) of certification.

Gene...as you go along staffing your writer's stable, you won't care
about certification and that's fine. In fact, you probably want
writers who you can mold into a cog that fits in your group.

However...your manager comes to you and says "Gene...we just borged a
company, they're 1500 miles from here, and I need you to hire a
person who can run that group...they have seven writers, one editor,
and one tech illustrator, but the existing manager has left and
they're walking around like the zombie mob outside the flaming pickup
truck in the movie Night of the Living Dead. Oh, and we need that
person inplace within two weeks.

You may have a short list of people who you would immediately start
talking to. Great. Not everyone does. Some sit there and go "Holy
Crap...where do I start.

Keep in minbd that this is 1500 miles from you, wouldn't it help you
if you could include in your search technical writing professionals
who at least according to an independent certifying agency have a
wide range of a defined set of skills and you know what those skills are?

John Posada
Senior Technical Writer

"I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you've never actually known what the question is."