Trying the Applied Information Technology Engineer Examination

The IT industry in Japan puts a lot of stock in certifications
awarded based on a series of national Information Processing Engineer
examinations. However, I've avoided the exams for my 20 years in Japan
because having the cert or not has never had any practical impact on
my work, I lack confidence in my ability to write the timed essays in
Japanese required by the highest level exams, and I've always felt
that software engineering was a calling too high to be adequately
measured by a mere exam.

However, long meditation on what I've done with my career (marked-time
for twenty years) and a transfer to my company's audit department have
caused me to reevaluate my views and I've decided to give the
mid-level Applied Information Technology Engineer exam (AP) a try this
October.

I haven't really changed my mind about the ability of an exam to
measure the quality of a software professional, and I still think the
more interesting/valuable high-level exams are beyond the reach of my
Japanese writing ability, but I feel like giving it a try just to
prove to myself that I've still got a right to think of myself as a
software professional and not just a generic corporate drone, and to
have an objective mark of what my twenty year career has meant.