[TCP] certification (was: ranting STC)

[Ned Bedinger]

Kevin McLauchlan wrote:
> What? You couldn't tell from what I wrote that I hadn't 
> actually _read_ your post, just winged it?  :-)
>   


Oh yeah sure I knew. In fact, what I post is ordinarily composed as a 3D 
fly-through first, then saved as text, and that's what I post here.



>   
>   
>> First,  I have to wonder about an employer who pays for certification 
>> *after* hiring the writer.  I don't know how else they'd do 
>> it, but that 
>> way is assuredly backward.  Thoughts on how this would work, anyone?
>>     
>  
> Well, you see, it's like this:
>
> In another thread, somebody pointed out how a lot of companies 
> like to hire junior people with little formal or work experience 
> in order to mold them.
>   


Can anyone corroborate this? I mean, employers who chew through junior 
TWs and contractors, yes. Employers who invest in TW development? 
Hahahaahahahaaha :-) Is it a joke?


> In other situations, you hire somebody who has a demonstrated 
> history of a _lot_ of the skills you need, and then you fill 
> in any gaps once you've got him/her on staff. Like the previous 
> paragraph, but with a higher starting bar.
>   


Sounds cool, but my experience is the manager who would rather get a 
budget for someone with the skill, instead of getting a training budget 
for existing staff. That manager is everywhere, doesn't come from 
anything like a technology background, and has nose pressed firmly into 
the manager above on the corporate ladder. Bleah.


>  
>   
>> Second, Kevin--the way I read yours below, I find that IF you were 
>> interested in certification, you MIGHT (however unlikely) be 
>> willing to 
>> pay for it.  Since the context of my hypothesis is the 
>> self-paying TW, your scenario works.
>>     
>    
> You possibly confuse "willing to" with "forced to".
> As I noted in an earlier post, even if you and others were 
> successful this time at imposing a certification requirement 
> on techwriters, it would only be in widespread effect after 
> I'd retired/died. 
>   


OK, I remember that post.



> On the other hand, and probably more along the lines of 
> what John P and others really mean, I'd pay for specific 
> training that would make my work easier or that made it 
> easier/more effective to interact with the people whose 
> work I document. 
>   


Yes, I would too, but I usually can get by with certification books. It 
is so much more dignified than being the only one on the team who 
doesn't know what going on .



> By the way, aside to John, I can read about usability and 
> learn some hints to apply to my work, and not have to take 
> a formal course - much of which would be me-or-my-employer 
> paying for review of stuff I'd already read - but it won't 
> help me any more or less in talking with the company usability 
> engineer(s).  We don't have any of those.
>
>   


I worked with a PhD Human Factors guy one time. He wore a lab coat and 
did a workplace documentation experiment to see if people prefered 
left-right pages or all-right pages for documentation in 3-ring binders. 
The result? Inconclusive. Fuh, he had it made.



>   
>   
>> Unfortunately, you then get disqualified from the experiment if your 
>> employer pays for your STC membership and/or certification, 
>> since Dexter 
>> and I can't then evaluate your willingness to pay.
> Well, I'll feel pressure to pay when I find it hard to get a job 
> without having your certification. But, if the certification requires 
> hundreds or thousands of hours of <insert name brand here> study, 
> then I'd still not pay, because I don't have that many years left 
> in me.


Age may be a lurking factor in all studies of certification enrollment 
rates. I naively wonder if this insight has implications for the place 
of less-young tech writers in the workforce.

Ned Bedinger
doc at edwordsmith.com