Getting old is better the available alternative!!
Two of my dogs have more titles behind their name than probably anyone on this list (or at the very least a heck of alot more titles than I do), but I’m still the one who pays their upkeep!
Am/Can CH Meadowlake No Regrets RA AX OAJ AJP OAP ME CG CGC VX (Reggie)
CH Meadowlake Angel In My Pocket RL1 NA NAJ JE CGC TDI V (Halo)
That’s T Bone in my avator but right now he’s just Aardehond Crazy Heart CPiT (cute puppy in training)
Ralph probably has a lot of them too (dog titles)!
P.S. (Ralph) Are you going to Medina in July?
All of those initials after your name mean nothing when it comes to promotions; at least in my current employment. I have CCS, CCCA, LEED AP, and am a Registerd Architect and Registered Interior Designer, but was passed over for promotion for a person who is CDT.
May be time to look elsewhere!
Gives a whole new meaning to the “…writing on the wall”
That seems to be the way it goes with registration and certification. The value comes when you’re looking for a new job, as companies often require a specific license or certification. If you get it while you’re at a job, you go the boss and say, “Look at me - I got my license/CDT/CCS/etc.!” and the response is, “Good for you. Get back to work.”
And the shame of it all is just that the value of the hard work to become registred is valued so low. Now one can lose skill and enthusiasm and become a non-player which is rather silly for the previous effort, but the intangible part of being registered is being a working and growing professional.
The silliness currently at hand [to reduce the qualifications for registration] is beyond stupid and is unparalleled in medicine or law. Do you want your doctor to be "lesser: trained? What do some now think registration of an architect, without a degree is in any way valid? 'Course then too people live together without marrying.
We, I think, need a stronger registration program supported by a much stronger and better directed, well-rounded academic sequence. But then employers who are not in the know will still exist-- how do they get their jobs?
All those letters mean nothing when it comes to layoffs, either. I have a string of letters and feel I have been fairly compensated for them, I enjoy my job, but I am getting strong signs that I will fall in the next layoff. Too much experience, too big a salary, too many others out of work willing to accept less.
On the other hand, I feel sure I will be among the first hired when things start to pick up. Great experience, fair salary, and not many other candidates looking. Times change.
Tracy: my dog, too. (and she has a much better pedigree than I do).
This topic has surpassed Specifiers Week as the most-commented topic in this category.
Why?
Lack of understanding of the requirements required to obtain those letters?
Folks get to talk about themselves
The letters are not badges of glory, but rather hints of accomplishment and expertise.
They are important when the card holder reaches for the card to call back and talk to “you” again, and uses the hints to remember what you can bring to the project. Your persona and demeanor made the impression!
Just about everyone in the group has letters after their name. (although I notice not all seem to use them in this discussion forum).
They seem to mean different things to different people and were used for different purposes.
Back in my fathers day, it meant you had arrived. You were a professional and that was it. No continuing ed. You just paid your dues and you were in the club.
Today, things are more complicated, and we get to talk about this stuff on-line instead of at the monthly meetings!