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Mentor Qualification

How are Mentors selected?

To ensure that Apprentice participants receive instruction from qualified individuals, Mentor applications are submitted to a Mentor Review Panel which previews the prospective Mentor's skill level in the relevant fields. Applicants usually are notified within a few weeks if they are accepted into the Program.

What skills are necessary to be a Mentor?

The main qualifications to be a Mentor in the HTML Writers Guild Mentor/Apprentice Program is the ability to write quality HTML and a desire to share that skill with individuals wishing to improve their own HTML skill level.

You may well qualify as a volunteer Mentor if your pages:

begin with a declaration of the document-type definition (DTD);
validate under W3C standards;
are designed to be accessible i.e., easily viewable across the broad spectrum of browsers, including text-only and text-to-speech browsers, do not require the viewer to download new or proprietary software, and do not cause problems for visitors with non-traditional equipment or with exceptional physical or mental situations.
load quickly for the type of page and site.

We'd really like to sign you up as a Mentor and have no wish to restrict your personal site design in any way. On the other hand, the ability to help others write quality, industry-standard HTML is mandatory. Before you apply, ask yourself:

Do I write HTML that meets the common industry standards? If your sites pass validation under W3C standards, you are probably well on your way to qualifying. Note: It is not an absolute requirement that a Mentor's sites validate; there are circumstances under which a designer might choose or need to use an attribute which negates validation of an otherwise acceptable site. Note also, however, that validation is a generally-accepted industry standard and is promoted by the HTML Writers Guild; it is strongly in your favor if the sites you submit for evaluation include a proper DTD and validate to W3C standards.

Can I actually write HTML or were my sites generated by a software program? As page generation programs improve, more designers are beginning to rely on software to initially generate pages. A main point of the Program, however, is to improve HTML writing skills; if you rely completely on software programs to generate your pages, you probably will not qualify as a Mentor.

Do my sites exclude individuals who choose to or must use other than the latest browser from Netscape or Microsoft? A good mentor must be able to help their Apprentices understand and learn the ever-expanding points of site accessibility and efficient, intuitive navigation techniques.
Do I have skills in scripting, graphics, marketing, or other areas that are in demand? Individuals skilled in writing quality HTML are likely to be accepted as volunteers; however, those qualified Mentors who have additional skills are most likely to be assigned Apprentices and to be kept active in the Program.

If you feel that you may qualify as a Mentor in the HTML Writers Guild Mentor/Apprentice Program, please apply via the Mentor Application Form; your skills are needed and very welcome.

The HWG Mentor/Apprentice Program Administration Team consists of:

Manager (mentor-admin(at)hwg.org) (Note: the Program Manager position is currently open)
Ann Navarro (ann(at)hwg.org) (Vice President, Member Education Programs)

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