Re: An Engineer has infected my young mind!

[Sybille Sterk <sybille -at- wowfabgroovy -dot- net>]

Hi Christi,

Sorry, I've been a bit aggressive here to give Sierra a boost. I agree, I 
usually get a lot of input from engineers and I do ask them if there is 
anything they'd like to see in the manual etc. However, as far as the way 
the presentation of the information goes, I am the expert!

I am usually getting on quite well with the engineers, and most of them are 
quite happy to let me write the manuals. I also occasionally make 
suggestions concerning the UI or other things like that... which are 
received more or less well, depending on the programmer.

Think about it, though, if you are a lone, inexperienced tech writer up 
against a (probably) older confident engineer who tells you what to do, it 
is very difficult to do what you think best. There's nothing wrong with a 
bit of confrontation or saying "stop, no further, this is my business". - 
It's the same when you try and be your own person rather than your parents' 
little one... sometimes it needs a bit of aggression before you can talk to 
one another as adults.

Generally, I think that tech writing is greatly undervalued, especially by 
programmers who think it's not really necessary, which makes Sierra's 
position even more difficult.

Hope you see my point.

Sybille

At 23:35 18/05/00 , Christi wrote: