Professional development takes many forms in the world of technical communication—conferences, mentoring, on-the-job (OTJ) and other forms of training, post graduate education, continuing education and certificate programs, and professional certification. In North America debate rages on the value and relevance of some of these development forms, especially in professional certification. But since the world of technical communication is a global, multicultural field spanning a wide array of industries, taking a look at professional development through a global lens can provide some insight, and new alternatives, to how we approach the technical communication field. TechWhirl spoke with Tony Self, cofounder of HyperWrite Consultancy and Training and Director of Training for TCTrainNet, an English language initiative of tekom’s tcworld .