ASQ - Hierarchy of Certifications

[sgurusaran]

Is there a hierarchy of certifications from ASQ? How are the certifications interconnected and is there like a Mt Everest of certifications?

I guess what I am trying to look at is if a person is a CQE is it fair to say that person has good knowledge about audits and hence does he become a CQA?

If the above does not hold good, do you think it might be a good structure for ASQ to look at, hence creating one ultimate certification that would demonstrate a person's capability on other areas as well.

Hope I did not confuse anybody. Thank You for your replies

[Jim Wynne]

In Reply to Parent Post by sgurusaran

Is there a hierarchy of certifications from ASQ? How are the certifications interconnected and is there like a Mt Everest of certifications?

I guess what I am trying to look at is if a person is a CQE is it fair to say that person has good knowledge about audits and hence does he become a CQA?

If the above does not hold good, do you think it might be a good structure for ASQ to look at, hence creating one ultimate certification that would demonstrate a person's capability on other areas as well.

Hope I did not confuse anybody. Thank You for your replies

Certifications aren't cumulative. I don't think ASQ would ever go for such a scheme as it would have a tendency to cut into revenues. I've known people who had all of the certifications that were available at the time. For them it's akin to a hobby, I think, but for ASQ it's a cash cow.

[Jennifer Kirley]

I once viewed a lively discussion of certification hierarchy when the question of how to list them on business cards came up. Up or down? There was no final answer.

Since that time ASQ has developed so many certifications for different fields (manufacturing, food, health care, software), that assembling a hierarchy would be impractical at best and damaging at worst.

Think of them as personal growth and leave hierarchy out of the discussion.

[sgurusaran]

When talking to one of my friends in the IT sector, they were asking me this question on the hierarchy. I guess there are certifications for Java programmers and developers. Those certifications are offered sequentially, so if you take the top most one, it is a given that you had passed the ones before.

This is what made me curious to see if ASQ had anything similar.

[tomvehoski]

Its been 12-15 years since I got my certifications (Manager, Engineer, Auditor, Technician) and I declined renewing them a few years ago. Felt like I was just giving ASQ cash for a piece of paper.

The only one I recall having a major overlap was the Technician and Engineer. For hierarchy I go with Manager - Engineer - Auditor - Technician when I list them on my resume, but that is just my personal thought. I actually thought Engineer was the hardest, but Manager usually outranks Engineer in the job world, so I list that first.