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> Would anyone care to comment on what you feel the ratio of standard
> technical communicators to actual programmer technical writers to be? That
> is, how many of you have current, applied programming skills (like Java) and
> actually use these skills to improve the value of your writing?
In my experience, the vast majority of tech writers don't have this
experience. However, that's balanced by the rarity of jobs that call
for that kind of writer.
I'm a programming writer; I want to write specs and design docs for
programmers, not online help for end users. I've been doing this for a
while, so I'm pretty senior. When I was job-hunting a few months ago,
fewer than 5% of the job postings in Pittsburgh were for my preferred
kind of writing (at any level of experience). The market was
(apparently) decent for the jobs I wasn't looking for. (Fortunately,
I found a very good match and am quite happy at my new company.)
So for me, it looks like all a job poster has to do is drop a couple
hints in the job description and you'll stand out from the pack. :-)
Put the word "programming" or "API" in the job title (e.g. programming
writer) and you'll *definitely* stand out, or at least would here.
You might also want to look for literate programmers who want to write.
They're rare, but they're out there. I don't know how you find them,
though. (I used to be one, but I made the career switch on my own,
not because a doc manager recruited me.)
> * When does a job's subject matter dictate that a writer have actual
> programming experience vs. good ole technical acumen?
When the product is an API, or when the writer will be writing design
documents or detailed specs. Or when support from the programmers will
be low and the writer will have to read the source code to figure out
what's going on. Or when you want there to be good examples to go with
API documentation. Or when you want documentation that is outstanding as
opposed to merely competent. (The writer needs to be able to think like
a programmer and anticipate issues, not just look at a header file and
document the functions that are there. He needs to be able to ask, and
answer, questions like "how would I do X with this interface?" and
"what happens if I give bogus input here?" or "what happens if two
processes are competing for this resource?".)
No matter what the product is, the writer has to become a skilled user
of that product. For an API, that means the writer has to be able to
write reasonable code. For other purposes (like high-level design
documents and conceptual guides), a reading knowledge and broad clues
(say, a few programming classes but no actual experience) would probably
suffice. (I'm talking about qualifications for the lead writer.
Less-experienced writers can still be quite useful, but I believe you
need to have a writer with programming skills on the team to do this
kind of documentation.)
> * If you are a lead/programmer/technical writer, what job postings
> attract you?
Ones that convey that the audience is programmers. Ones that mention
specific technologies or languages that I either know or believe I can
learn (or that I want to learn). Ones that give the impression that I
will be a key member of the engineering team, and not some adjunct off in
a "services" department or the like.
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