[thelist] Industry Associations

[aardvark]

specifically trimming all replies, i don't want anyone to think i'm 
repsonding to them, because i'm not... i'm responding to the idea of 
'professional associations'...

some of you may have heard my rants about the HTML Writer's 
Guild... i have no problem with them in general... but i get lots of 
resumes, and see lots of sites, by people who couldn't code their 
way out of a paper tag...

but somehow they think that displaying the logo, or mentioning 
their membership in the HTML Writer's Guild lends them some 
credibility (fwiw, in my eyes, it's more of a detriment on a resume... 
good code speaks for itself, and i'll see that in the portfolio 
pieces)...

so, until the HTML Writer's Guild enacts some minimum standards 
to membership (like you have to know HTML, or perhaps code to 
standards, etc.), i'd be happier if i never saw their logo or reference 
on a resume or site again...

as for the others, especially those that offer 'certification,' their 
certs are only as good as the people writing them, and too many of 
them are lacking...

beyond that, what do they offer you as a member?  anything?  
certainly not credibility...  hell, a look at their sites (UI, code, 
systems, etc.) automatically disqualifies them as high-end 
organizations in my book... consider that most of them have a 
business model they are trying to push (ad revenue, membership 
revenue, partnership revenue, etc.)...

certainly none of my clients have ever heard of these, and there 
were a couple i had never heard of, and i consider myself pretty 
competent... so, if there's no benefit for a client, if vendors don't 
care, and if employers match those sentiments, what's the point?  
$25 off a magazine subscription?  a .gif for your site?  a certificate?

seriously, in most other industries, i can see the point.... but this 
one?  anyone?