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Subject:RE: Where is the ceiling in TW? From:"Giordano, Connie" <Connie -dot- Giordano -at- FMR -dot- COM> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 18 Jan 2001 14:37:11 -0500
Non-technical writers may do very well in marketing, but when times get
tough, marketing gets laid off ahead of the tech writers. It's considered
even more expendable than documentation. I got laid off three times during
my 12 years in marketing. In tech writing I was laid off once, and had a
new job in a week. I'm not a particularly techie tech writer, but I do
learn my industries, and offer a wider set of skills. Been extremely useful
in smaller companies. But ceilings are created by management mindset, and
continue to exist because of preconceptions. Expand into areas such as
usability and information architecture, and you can raise that ceiling by a
couple of floors. Continue to stick with the "writer only" mindset, and you
limit yourself.
MTC
Connie Giordano
facing eternal damnation either way!
-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Byfield [mailto:bbyfield -at- progeny -dot- com]
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2001 2:25 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Subject: Re: Where is the ceiling in TW?
Andrew Plato wrote:
> If you are not willing to learn the more technical aspects, your options
are
> pretty limited. Despite what many people may say, there really is not
much of
> a market left for "non-techies". Basically, when times are tight
companies
> layoff the non-techies first because they are the easiest to replace.
Times
> are getting tight, so the market for positions that do not demand "techie"
> skills are rapidly drying up.
Well, there is (gasp!) marketing. Non-technical tech writers could
do very well in marketing, because their level of understanding is
appropriate to the field. Even there, though, a technical background
is useful, if only so that the geeks will talk to you (even if it's
in a parking garage at midnight, so nobody sees them talking to a
marketer) and to avoid making embarrassing mistakes.
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