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Subject:RE: I'm taking my marbles and going home... From:"Sean Brierley" <sbri -at- haestad -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 13 Aug 2002 12:52:41 -0400
I don't entirely disagree. Remember, though, I was responding to this:
"If the job is to write about electronics, its a
necessity." The necessity being the AA in electronics.
Moreover, I'd say if you have some education, jargon and concepts of
many industries are not a stretch, especially to a seasoned technical
writer. I'd go further and say it's at least as big a stretch for
somebody with an AA in electronics to get on with color printing,
PostScript, online help, and PDF (and other publishing and technical
writing concepts) . . ..
You don't have to have a background in electronics to write about
electronics. But it can't hurt, that's for sure. I see no problem with
an
employer wanting tech writers who possess some knowledge of the topics
they'll write about. An AA is most likely - to this employer - the
minimum
standard to show some expertise in the subject. A BS or Masters degree
wasn't required, only an AA.
So to answer the litany of questions above: No - you don't have to be
a
programmer/mechanical engineer/network adminstrator to write effectively
about these subjects. But a person with a background in these subjects
will
certainly have an easier time grappling with Ohm's law than someone who
needs to Google every acronym or arcane term used by the SMEs. The
employer
is likely thinking of the learning curve, and there is nothing wrong
with
that.
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