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Re: Could you possibly be a chimp? (was: Are you a writer?)
Subject:Re: Could you possibly be a chimp? (was: Are you a writer?) From:"Rob Writer" <piercedroo -at- hotmail -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 28 Feb 2002 10:34:13 -0600
People. Relax. You're all right. Just not about the same things.
If all you are writing is GUI User Guides, Installation Manuals (which only
require a walk-through of the Install Wizard, System Requirements, and How
To Configure a few files), Policy/Procedure Manuals, or Product
Overviews....then NO...a resounding NO...you do not need to be an SME. Heck,
the 'ol "1000 chimps with a 1000 typewriters" rules probably holds true for
these types of documents.
But if you are writing API reference guides, you better have a very high
level of knowledge of the programming langague. Writing a Network
Integration Guide, where the customer must develop their own interface to
your product using an API? You better understand networking concepts AND the
programming language better than the customer's network admin.
If you are writing documents that others will use to do their very technical
jobs (developers, DBAs, systems integrators, etc), then you better know at
least as much about how to do their job as they do.
There are a heap of writers out here who not only understand OOP concepts,
but who can write code too. Some of us out even know how to use and write
SQL statements in addition to our "high-level" understanding of relational
database concepts.
Do I have to be an expert on assembling Boeing aircraft to write a
Developer's Guide for configuration software that is used to properly
assemble an aircraft that has more than a million configurations? No. But I
do have to understand the modeling language. No, wait. I have to KNOW the
modeling language.
And when push comes to shove, people with truly technical skills will get
the jobs, and get paid more to do them.
But hey, companies need people to doc their GUIs too. I understand.
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