Certification Program in Technical writing

Recently, I was interviewed by a Sr. Manager in Technical Writing. This interview was a bit different from my previous interview. The lady who took the interview was not very appreciative of the certification/training programs in the field of Technical Writing. She is in fact quite disappointed with this kind of teaching that takes place for this training programs. The reason she quoted is that the knowledge acquired will not be of much use in the real-time environment. So, what is certification/training program all about?

After doing a certification in Technical Writing, I have found that it surely helps a lot for those who are planning to enter into this field. In my personal opinion, a certification program will have the following benefits:

• You might be an expert in writing, but specialization in writing with respect to a particular field you want to enter into, is a must. So, you need to be trained for that specialization to understand how to structurize your writing skills.
• Technical Writing is a specialized learning,  a certification or training helps to tune your writing with technical writing before you enter into an organization.
• Every field in software industry has its own set of guidelines for different processes that take place in developing a software application. A certification/training program will give you an intial introduction surely enable you to get familiar with such guidelines
• You may not have an in-depth knowledge of the minutest details of the way documentation happens in a particular company, because it changes from organization to organization. But a certification program would surely minimize the time that would be taken by you to get familiar with the documentation procedure of that particular organization.
• The assignments and projects that you do during your certification program will surely make you feel like an experienced person when you enter the real-time environment and start working on a real project.
• Also, most importantly, the assessment, based on which the certificate is given, during the training program will reflect your aptitude for technical writing.

So, the above mentioned view points emphasize the importance of training programs for freshers in this field.
Regards,
Gayatri Kadiyala