Re: us vs. them

["Alex Silbajoris" <alsilba -at- hotmail -dot- com>]

I worked for one company whose "geeks" were antagonistic to the tech 
writers, but in most workplaces that wasn't the case.

That outfit had poorly-disciplined programmers with a tradition of locking 
themselves in an office, creating some new software that makes a fortune, 
and documenting none of it - actually guarding it with some jealousy.  Our 
group of half a dozen writers had a strong manager who stood up for us, but 
often the administration let us down.

Heh, at one major auto manufacturer attempting to switch to BaaN, the 
programmers were instructed not to devote any time at all to the training 
writers.  I had a good relationship with them, though, and we would actually 
sneak drafts and notes back and forth over coffee breaks.

These days I'm in a much smaller company, and though it has been around for 
a few years it hasn't matured much.  I'm creating their first templates, but 
I haven't gotten them to the point of using version control or even an 
inhouse web - yet.  I've managed to develop a workable rapport with the 
gruff programmers, I'm seen as sort of an "answer guy" by the marketing 
people, and I'm working on educating the admins on some of the basics of 
tech writing practices.  From a professional standpoint, I'm pretty happy; I 
feel like I have a lot ahead of me.

Plus I get this neat desk and cool mechanical pencil...

- A



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