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Subject:RE: Top ten myths of technical communication From:Kelly Blood <KELLYS -at- perceptron -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 19 Oct 2000 14:28:02 -0400
Unfortunately, I'm falling into the software development phase. Apparently,
it'll look good on my résumé. I'm a tech writer. I enjoy writing. If I
wanted to do things in code and tag and such, I would have gotten a degree
in computer science or the like. Everything now has to be "web-based."
Where do we draw the line in our profession? What do we let "pass" as part
of the tech writing job?
===== Original Message from Patti Simmons <Patti -dot- Simmons -at- ECoutlook -dot- com> at
10/19/00 12:57 pm
Brian McClain Said:
<One odd misconception of technical writing that senior P/As have voiced to
me in various jobs: The natural career progression of technical writers is
for them to eventually become programmers. Apparently the rationale is that
with increasing experience in software development, TWs finally slide into
developing specs with SMEs, then discovering high-level user requirements,
and finally they wind up writing the code instead of "merely" explaining it.
However, nobody who's suggested this myth to me could come up with more than
anecdotal evidence of this progressive career change.>
Wow, that's interesting. I am currently working in QA, trying to transition
to TW.
I can't imagine this - I like to write because I enjoy communication. And
while programming could probably be considered communication in a roundabout
sort of way, it hardly seems related at all to tech writing. Maybe it's
just my perspective - I have an English degree and ended up doing QA by
accident and am now trying to get back to my roots...
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