[Sigia-l] certifications

[Whitney Quesenbery]

I dread leaping into this discussion, but I think that one of the reasons 
why certification comes up is because the definitions are so fluid these days.

I may not ask for a specific certification, but if someone tells me that 
they studied or worked with a person or company I know, it gives me some 
additional context. As many have said, I would never rely on it, but it can 
be part of an overall portfolio and a starting point for a discussion.

Another comment is that I see large companies and government agencies most 
interested in certifications. They get a large volume of resumes and it 
becomes a way of sorting them out a little bit.

I had one experience working with the HR department of a client when we 
needed (finally) to hire some people. This was an area where they had no 
experience, and one of the things they asked me to do was read some resumes 
with them and show them what things I was seeing that made the resume more 
or less interesting. One of their problems is that resumes sometimes arrive 
with no particular job indicated, and they need to figure out how to sort 
them. They also sometimes culled through resumes in a related area when 
trying to fill a job.

As part of a project co-sponsored by the UPA earlier this year, I did an 
analysis on a rather large survey around opinions and attitudes on 
certification. I think it is as applicable to IAs as to usability 
professionals, and a reasonably large number of people who identified 
themselves as IAs participated: 
http://www.upcertification.org/files/upsurvey-qual-analysis-v5.pdf



Whitney Quesenbery
Whitney Interactive Design, LLC
w. www.WQusability.com
e. whitneyq at wqusability.com
p. 908-638-5467

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