Good comments, George. They mirror comments on "the discussion list that cannot be named" that ultimately led to the UPA halting their investigation.

However, given the state of usability today, certifying some minimal level of compentence would be a major step forward...

Posted by: Ron Zeno on August 15, 2002 10:42 PM

 

I think we need to think about what's the real goal when certification comes up -- in my experience, it's generally been professional respect.

This has been true of graphic designers who felt threatened when DTP arose, DTPers who in turn complained about all those people who didn't know what the proper shortcut keys in Quark were, software engineers who complained about "just do it" programmers, etc.

In each case, certification was being promoted as a magic bullet that will somehow result in us being viewed as professional worthy of respect, get us higher salaries, help us beat out the riff-raff for jobs. However, this overlooks the fact that barbers, nail stylists and exterminators are all certified and that hasn't caused them to be viewed as "professionals."

What we do is craft -- a mixture of science and art. And like other craft fields -- such as graphic design, software engineering, etc. -- it means your portfolio is always going to be more important than formal degrees or certification.

If we want respect we've got to earn it. In the trenches. By providing real value. To those who hire us.

Posted by: George Olsen on August 16, 2002 12:14 PM