Gettin' Engineers to trust you and this Darn Economy

["Doc Writer" <doc_writer -at- hotmail -dot- com>]

I'm sure this has been hashed to death, but I have yet to get our engineers 
to believe that I know what I'm doing. Regardless of how much technical 
knowledge I show them that I know, regardless of the number of manuals that 
I produce, I still have those engineers that say, "I'll write it, and you 
can just send it to the printer." Right! That's all I do!

It might just be the culture that I work in, at the moment, but I get so 
frustrated at being seen as the "formatter". When I interviewed here, I 
asked the CTO, CEO and Business Dev. Manager their definition of a Technical 
Writer. Their answers confirmed that they respect this position. They still 
do - it's the "Indians" that think I'm a secretary.

_________________
Topic #2: Our CEO just sent out an email a few days ago asking for 
volunteers to delay their paycheck! <Now, bring your jaw up to your mouth!> 
Isn't that awful? However, he just purchased a million dollar home in the 
hills, is playing a round of golf right now with the partners and on and on. 
So, on top of not being respected, my paycheck might bounce.

Before I get flamed, the reason that I'm still here at all is because it 
doesn't seem that much easier anywhere else, and they let me telecommute as 
much as I want (I live an hour away).

__________________________
Q1/ Is anyone else experiencing this sense of unsureness in your company's 
health?
Q2/ How can you be firm about showing engineers that you can do the work, 
(just give me the darn specs) without causing more problems?

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