RE: Are Indian Tech Writer Firms as good as American Firms?

["Dan Hall" <dhall -at- san-carlos -dot- rms -dot- slb -dot- com>]

There are a number of companies here in the SF Bay Area 
(Silicon Valley) that are basically "front ends" for an
Indian programming shop - companies that hire these firms
get the face-to-face communication they want, but the 
majority of the coding is done by programmers living in 
India. Sort of a best-of-both-worlds scenario.

All that as background to the fact that when I was looking
for work last year, I interviewed with a number of these
firms - some that had tech writers on staff, some that did
not.

>From that experience, I'd offer that:

Nationality isn't really the issue. Everything else being 
equal, tw's that are native speakers of English are going 
to _tend_ to write better than non-native speakers, though
I realize that there are exceptions. In fact, I work with 
one of the exceptions - as a non-native writer she's extra
careful, and her work rarely needs much editing. This can 
be a good thing if you are the native speaker and are 
willing to be consulted (frequently) on those tricky 
questions of usage.

Non-native speakers have a more difficult time judging 
writing proficiency. One place I decided not to pursue had 
a writer on staff who showed me samples of what they were 
doing, and it was hideous - though the manager seemed 
surprised when I pointed out some egregious grammar errors
and major organizational flaws. This can be a bad thing if 
you are working with a team of non-native speakers and are
keen on having things "just so" - though I don't see how you
could survive very long as a technical writer if you aren't
willing to make compromises.

Other than these two points, the important issues for you 
while considering this are going to be exactly the same as
those in any other situation:

1. Is the work something you can do well?
2. Is the financial remuneration sufficient?
3. Will you fit in with the "team"?

HTH

Dan

It is the mark of an educated mind to rest satisfied with
the degree of precision which the nature of the subject
admits and not to seek exactness where only an approximation
is possible. - Aristotle 





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