TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
> >From Ken Bowes:
>
> <Telecommuting should always be a perk for people who have repeatedly and
> consistently proven themselves capable of delivering top quality work.>
>
> I really, really hope this attitude changes and very quickly too.
Let me add some notes from the front on this one. In the last month or two,
traffic in Silicon Valley has gone from frustrating to really, really bad. The
problem is affordable housing - ain't none that is reasonably commutable to
where the jobs are. The houses that people can afford are frequently an hour or
more away, and the only way to get there is via freeway. If you're willing to
trade quality of housing for reduced commute time, you can get townhouses and
condos for more nearly reasonable prices (they're still outrageous by the
standards in the rest of the country). A lot of people have bought homes in
nearby counties (San Benito, Stanislaus, Monterey) and commute up Highway 101
into jobs in San Jose, resulting in the last two months in major backups
stretching much farther south on 101 than was the case just last summer. (You
have to know Silicon Valley geography to understand what I'm talking about - and
the highway 101 corridor is just one example of where this is happening. The
same thing has happened on 680 and its feeder roads, as well as other freeways.)
All of which makes an extremely strong case for the growing tendency to allow
people to work at home, or at least remotely, part of the time. Granted,
managing a remote workforce takes some different kind of management strategies,
and it requires that the workers be able to operate with not only self
discipline but the ability to technically support a remote work area. But
having both been a remote team member and managed teams of remote workers, I can
vouch for the fact that telecommuting *does* work - and in fact, works most of
the time. It should definitely *not* be regarded just as a perk for someone
who's done good work before. There are times when it's important to have
face-to-face meetings, and times when it's important to have centralized
equipment that requires you to come in and play with it, but a tremendous amount
of work that seasoned writers do is much better done in environments that are
free from the distractions of a cubicle farm.
Elna Tymes
Los Trancos Systems
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Learn how to develop HTML-based Help with Macromedia Dreamweaver!
Dec. 7-8, 2000, Orlando, FL -- $100 discount for STC members. http://www.weisner.com/training/dreamweaver_help.htm or 800-646-9989.
Your web site localized into 32 languages? Maybe not now, but sooner than
you think. Download ForeignExchange's FREE paper, "3 steps to successful
translation management" at http://www.fxtrans.com/3steps.html?tw.
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
