ProZ.com Continuing professional development (CPD) points system now available Thread poster: Gabriela Iacoboni
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Dear members,
Earlier this year, a feature was released to allow you to report, track, and display your continuing professional development (CPD) using your ProZ.com profile.
As promised in that previous announcement, a CPD points system is being developed, so that you can accumulate and display points earned along with your continuing professional development activities.
Here is how it works:
- When a CPD activity you have added has been verified, the points allotted for that activity will also be shown next to the entry.
- If a CPD entry has not been verified, you will only see the potential points which would be allotted upon verification (these potential points are not displayed publicly).
- CPD points will tally up on a yearly basis and be displayed as "verified points earned" for each year and each category, as well as appearing in the general overview of your CPD at the top of your display page.
Remember that CPD entry verification is available for paying ProZ.com members, so earning verified points will also be restricted to those who are members. Non-members will only see potential verified points.
Those who have participated in other CPD systems probably already know that no point system is perfect. The point breakdown proposed to begin with is as follows:
- Online events: 1 point per hour (limit of 5 points per event)
- In-person events: 2 points per hour (limit of 10 points per event)
- Courses: 1 point per hour per course completed (limit of 3 points per course)
- Pro bono work: 1 point per 3,000 words (translation) or per hour (interpreting)
- Articles: 2 points for every article published
- Presentations/papers: 3 points per (unique) presentation given or per paper published
- Exams/certifications: 5 points
- Books: 5 points per book published
- Mentorships: 6 points for every mentorship completed
Feedback is welcome and appreciated.
Gabriela
ProZ.com training, tools, events and certification
CPD-related FAQs»
| | | | | I despair at this box-ticking bureaucracy | Aug 29, 2023 |
The main problem with this CPD bureaucracy is that the main source of learning, improvement through work experience, does not count at all. This is how you really develop, not through glaring at an online event for one hour.
Many people learn better through actual work than through organised learning. By counting points, you just make the latter look much better and more professional when it isn't.
Also please explain how pro-bono work improves someone's skills more tha... See more The main problem with this CPD bureaucracy is that the main source of learning, improvement through work experience, does not count at all. This is how you really develop, not through glaring at an online event for one hour.
Many people learn better through actual work than through organised learning. By counting points, you just make the latter look much better and more professional when it isn't.
Also please explain how pro-bono work improves someone's skills more than any other translation work. It's absolutely fine if some people want to do pro-bono work but I disagree that it should advance their Proz profile at the expense of colleagues who decide not to, for whatever reason. It is a main rule on Proz that posts should not be political, but counting pro-bono work as CPD is wokeness and virtue signalling as far as I'm concerned. Please keep that divisive ideology out of Proz, as you are likely to end up with an almighty row if you go down that road.
Edit: I have set my membership to manual renewal because of this wokery. If the wokery stays, I go. My renewal date is 21 September. I'm not going to pay you for advancing colleagues' profiles with wokery. Many people are afraid to speak up out of fear of being ‘cancelled’, me included, but enough is enough. Don’t get political, Proz! Observe your own rules, please!
[Edited at 2023-08-29 20:27 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 01:24
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| Carrot and stick | Aug 29, 2023 |
So, what's the carrot and what's the stick? What happens to translators who fail to collect sufficient CPD points? How are translators who collect enough CPD points rewarded. Would CPD points affect position in searches?
| | | | | Thank you for the input, Thomas | Aug 29, 2023 |
Hello, Thomas. I agree with you that years of experience are extremely important in professional development in any field, and this CPD point system aims to complement that field experience by recognizing research and training activities that are also crucial in the continuous professional development of a translator or interpreter.
This professional development can be achieved through various avenues, and it is generally a combination of different actions that each language profess... See more Hello, Thomas. I agree with you that years of experience are extremely important in professional development in any field, and this CPD point system aims to complement that field experience by recognizing research and training activities that are also crucial in the continuous professional development of a translator or interpreter.
This professional development can be achieved through various avenues, and it is generally a combination of different actions that each language professional chooses to undertake based on their interests and availability.
The fields included in this CPD point system attempt to best reflect that variety, not only in terms of personal choice but also in complexity and dedication, and that's what makes it versatile. ▲ Collapse
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| There are no plans at the moment to apply CPD points to anything else. | Aug 29, 2023 |
Samuel Murray wrote:
So, what's the carrot and what's the stick? What happens to translators who fail to collect sufficient CPD points? How are translators who collect enough CPD points rewarded. Would CPD points affect position in searches?
Hello, Samuel. This is still a "work in progress". There are no plans at the moment to apply CPD points to anything else, though there are potential applications: https://www.proz.com/faq/247936#247936
| | | | Zea_Mays
Italy
Local time: 01:24
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
| Students or pros? | Aug 30, 2023 |
Gabriela Iacoboni wrote:
Hello, Thomas. I agree with you that years of experience are extremely important in professional development in any field, and this CPD point system aims to complement that field experience by recognizing research and training activities that are also crucial in the continuous professional development of a translator or interpreter.
So is Proz planning to give points for experience as well?
Otherwise there would be no complement.
I understand that on a platform like Proz it is difficult to prove your professionalism and skills.
But the whole "points" thing reminds me more of a school than a professional mindset,
which you often see these days, with a compelling need to express things in numbers and votes.
| | | | expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 00:24
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Honestly, I don't see the point of a "CPD".
Discussions on forums like Proz, events organised by members, both virtual and face-to-face, updates and news of translation tools, among other things, learning and sharing knowledge among the community, reading articles and publications written by members, eLearning courses and other activities provided here, etc. don't they represent already a CPD?!
And what about our own daily translation tasks? Aren't they already a crucial continuing p... See more Honestly, I don't see the point of a "CPD".
Discussions on forums like Proz, events organised by members, both virtual and face-to-face, updates and news of translation tools, among other things, learning and sharing knowledge among the community, reading articles and publications written by members, eLearning courses and other activities provided here, etc. don't they represent already a CPD?!
And what about our own daily translation tasks? Aren't they already a crucial continuing professional development?!
I don't think it's of any use and I don't know to what extent this will be widely embraced by the community, unless it's important for newcomers and, instead of firing off questions on the forums like "What rate should I apply for language pair XX?", "How to create a termbase in YY?" "I've been scammed by company WW. What do to?", etc..." use this "system".
Some professions like translation require a large number of hours to be spent on CPD, which is obviously time-consuming.
On the other hand, CPD activities are free or low cost, but there are formal CPD courses that can be expensive...
And more points for what? Isn't there enough competition here already?
Proz has been a bit of a disappointment to me lately and, as stated by other colleagues, I don't know if I'll renew my membership, which expires next year. I wouldn't like to do that.
I'm in favour of self-development, progress and technology, but as long as it contributes to something positive and constructive for this community. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Questions and comments | Aug 30, 2023 |
Questions
1. The FAQ says: ‘For the most part, to be considered CPD, the activity or work should be non-commercial.’ What is the rationale for calling translation work CPD if it is unpaid but not if it is paid? It makes no sense.
2. Articles published: if someone creates a blog or posts blog posts or articles elsewhere about any topic, will they get points for eve... See more Questions
1. The FAQ says: ‘For the most part, to be considered CPD, the activity or work should be non-commercial.’ What is the rationale for calling translation work CPD if it is unpaid but not if it is paid? It makes no sense.
2. Articles published: if someone creates a blog or posts blog posts or articles elsewhere about any topic, will they get points for every blog post or articles?
3. Where is the evidence that ‘the continuous professional development of a translator or interpreter’ in exactly the ways Proz prescribes is ‘crucial’, but other types of development not?
Comments
FAQ: ‘In terms of using CPD to increase your client contact, think of it as one more way of differentiating yourself. Potential clients will be able to see that you are actively working to improve your skills and services when they visit your profile. At a later date, they may also be able to use CPD as an additional criterion when searching the directories for professionals, for example.’
This is typical corporate management thinking, as it favours only certain organised and countable types of CPD but not others. It is box ticking. It presents the clients with a fake and superficial image of what CPD is.
It rewards conformity instead of competence and quality. It’s the type of management nonsense that I was so happy to be free of as a freelancer.
When I learn about how best to present a marketing text by going through a competent editor’s changes, how do you count that in your CPD system? Oh, not an organised event, so that type of learning doesn't count. If I read articles about finance to understand the subject better? Doesn’t count.
But if I nod through an ‘online event’ in a sleepy or distracted state, I get points. This has nothing to do with professionalism or CPD and everything to do with mindless bureaucracy, simplistic management ideology and make-believe.
When I suggest things translators might actually need, such as a tailored and negotiated liability insurance with a cover suitable for our international activity or a negotiated package rate for accessing a credit rating agency, I am ignored. And then you waste your resources, which is not going to make anyone better at anything, on this distorted points nonsense instead.
Edit: how interesting that the topic format has been changed from standard format to the nonsensical term 'inclusive', which simply excludes more than two posts without being 'inclusive' in any way. Proz clearly does not want to hear criticism or listen to its (paying) members. Don't worry, I won't be for much longer.
[Edited at 2023-08-31 09:38 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Working as a translator is a never-ending learning process and my CPD has mainly been done every day with each job I complete. Some of these projects can be quite short and simple, others are long and complex requiring reading a lot of books and consulting laws and regulations on the subject. One of the problems I see with this point system is that rookie translators by definition need more CPD than veteran translators. So, it will be discriminatory against us “oldies”. I took part on a lot ... See more Working as a translator is a never-ending learning process and my CPD has mainly been done every day with each job I complete. Some of these projects can be quite short and simple, others are long and complex requiring reading a lot of books and consulting laws and regulations on the subject. One of the problems I see with this point system is that rookie translators by definition need more CPD than veteran translators. So, it will be discriminatory against us “oldies”. I took part on a lot of courses, conferences, webinars and meetups when I was working as staff translator for the EU (1986-2006). But nowadays, working as a freelancer I have no time nor disposition for the kind of CPD you’re describing. Am I less of a translator because of that? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Anne Maclennan
Local time: 01:24
Member (2010)
German to English
+ ...
| Experience of CPD in another incarnation | Aug 31, 2023 |
In my last incarnation as a secondary school teacher, I had to attend compulsory CPD days. They were never relevant to my subjects - languages - so a day, which could have been used for useful purposes, was wasted.
As a self-employed translator, am I really going to take the chance that I miss out on a project, which will then be offered to someone else, while I have forked out good money for "training", which may or not prove useful?
Everyday experience of translation... See more In my last incarnation as a secondary school teacher, I had to attend compulsory CPD days. They were never relevant to my subjects - languages - so a day, which could have been used for useful purposes, was wasted.
As a self-employed translator, am I really going to take the chance that I miss out on a project, which will then be offered to someone else, while I have forked out good money for "training", which may or not prove useful?
Everyday experience of translation – doing our job - is real CPD. ▲ Collapse
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