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Subject:Re: The Problem with STC From:Damien Braniff <dbraniff -at- iss-dsp -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 12 Dec 2000 08:43:42 +0000
Are we 'technical', 'communicators', both or neither neither? In some ways I see
this a bit like the earlier discussion on writing/content - good content + good
writing = excellent manual etc.
Ideally we should be BOTH technical AND communicators but a combination of the
two may suffice
Good tech + good comm = good manual
poor tech + poor comm = bad manual
good tech + poor comm = anything from bad to mediocre
poor tec + good comm = anything from mdeiocre to good (assuming the SMEs are
there to provide the info)
Here in the UK, at least until recently, there was no TW courses at university
so TWer tended to be programmers/engineers etc who switched to writing and
brought the tech knowledge with them.
I started off documenting software from the source code and moved on to
documenting hardware (degree stood me in good stead for both types of writing)
and since then have done a mix of hardware and software documentation. When I
felt my technical expertise wasn't enough I either learned more as I needed to
or turned the job down. Currently I would say I'm in the last category working
from information supplied by the engineers. I'm still learning the technology
but I doubt think I'll ever be an expert at it. A bit of a specialised field
and we have trouble enough getting suitably qualified engineers so if I was that
technical I'd be doing their job for a lot more money :)
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