Sadly, depending on where the 'certified' came from,
that title is from valuable to worthless.
With some polygraph schools, you are 'certified'
when you graduate, no experience needed.
With some other polygraph schools, you are 'certified'
once you tell them you have done 20 polygraph exams,
and send them the charts from 3 or 4 exams to evaluate. (20 exams, while being more than most polygraph school
graduates will ever do, is really no experience either.)
With some polygraph groups, an examiner can claim
to have done 100-200 exams (NO proof required!),
send those groups a few sample charts AND A FEE,
and now be 'certified' by those groups.
Here's a scary fact: most examiners who claim to be 'Certified'
get & keep that title through one small group that requires only that
every year they have 12 hours of education, WITH NO TEST GIVEN; Yes, that's only one hour per month, with no testing or scoring, in a high-tech profession that has continual changes & improvements!
Sadly, in an attempt to improve the quality of examiners, one
nationwide polygraph organization has suggested raising it to 15!
If Required Continuing Education is a primary difference between
a 'trade' and a 'profession', then these numbers are a disgrace.
Some groups, if you PAY them to attend THEIR seminars
(regardless of topic), they will let you say that you are 'certified'.
Since PEOA is not a 'polygraph diploma mill'
or a 'Give us money and we'll certify you' club,
there are far tougher requirements to allow the use of
the designation PEOA CPE Certified Polygraph Examiner!