There are three designations you can earn in the IBM
developerWorks Author Achievement Recognition Program
(dW author program). Each of these levels can be readily
achievable, depending on your own goals and commitment. The
requirements for each level are described below and
illustrated in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Achievement level
requirements
To reach each achievement level, you must accumulate a minimum
number of publication points
and complete a set of
scope
requirements:
-
Contributing Author
- Accumulate at least 30 publication points.
- Write at least one (1) technical article or
tutorial on your own.
-
Professional Author
- Accumulate at least 100 publication points,
including the points you earned for Contributing
Author.
- Write a total of at least four (4) articles or
tutorials on your own.
- Participate in at least one (1) eligible community
feature.
- Perform at least two (2) technical reviews of
published content items
by other authors.
- Recruit and mentor at least two (2) new
developerWorks authors. You must be either the
reviewer or co-author of their first major content
item.
-
Master Author
- Accumulate at least 200 publication points,
including the points you earned for Professional
Author.
- Write a total of at least ten (10) articles or
tutorials on your own.
- Participate in a total of at least three (3)
eligible community features.
- Perform a total of at least seven (7) technical
reviews of
published content items
by other authors.
- Recruit and mentor a total of at least seven (7)
new developerWorks authors. You must be either the
reviewer or co-author of their first major content
item.
Since you track your own progress, you will always know the
number of publication points you have remaining and what
requirements you need to fulfill to reach the next achievement
level. Tracking your progress is easy. Figure 2 shows the
tracking tool you receive when you register for the program.
The tracking tool is a spreadsheet that you can use with
Microsoft® Excel®, OpenOffice Calc, or IBM
Lotus® Symphony.
Figure 2. Tracking
tool
Take a closer look at the tracking tool.
The tracking tool is designed to be easy to use and is made up
of:
- A dashboard (Figure 3) that displays the publication
points and scope requirements you have completed (in the
Done section), along with the points and requirements that
you still need to achieve for each level (in the To Do
section).
Figure 3. Dashboard
section
- A simple data entry section (Figure 4) for recording your
publications and completed activities. You only need to
enter information in the white areas, and most values are
drop-down selections, which make data entry even easier.
Figure 4. Data entry
section
- A point distribution section (Figure 5) that calculates
the publication points you earn, based on the information
you entered.
Figure 5. Point
distribution section
- A reference section (Figure 6) in which you enter details
we can use to confirm the items you recorded.
Figure 6. Reference
section
You will receive simple instructions for using the tracking
tool when you register for the program. If you are a current
or past developerWorks author, the tracking tool will be
pre-filled with your applicable publishing history. (Spaces
and forum activity will not be pre-filled.) All you need to do
is record your future progress in the same format.
The information in the dashboard updates automatically as you
enter data. When all of the indicators in one of the
achievement level columns reach 0, SUBMIT will display
in that column (Figure 3). When this occurs, the data in your
tracking tool indicates that you have accumulated enough
publication points and completed the necessary scope
requirements for that level, pending confirmation. At that
point, simply send your tracking tool to the program
administrator at
dwaarp@us.ibm.com to
begin the confirmation process.
When your achievement is confirmed, you will receive an e-mail
notification informing you of your achievement, along with an
electronic certificate of achievement (Figure 7), and
instructions on how you may use your designation. The names of
those authors who have reached an achievement level will be
announced quarterly.
Figure 7. Certificates of
achievement
A developerWorks author badge that reflects your achievement
level (Figure 8) will also be added to your author biography
on future developerWorks publications (beginning late April
2009).
Figure 8. Article bio with
badge
In addition, Master Authors will receive an author tribute page
on developerWorks featuring their biography and examples of
their published work.
Have more questions? Get answers from the
frequently
asked questions.
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