Re: The Tech Writing World
The tech writing field is very tight right now. If you don't have some kind of writing experience, it is nearly impossible to find a job.
Maybe. It depends on what she's willing to do to land that first job. It's a very disturbing development for experienced
tech writers, but I'm seeing an increasing number of companies posting jobs for admin assistants and document control
clerks where the position descriptions include "technical writing" as part of the duties. In the past it hasn't been uncommon
for companies that felt they couldn't afford writers to push the work back on their engineers and have their exisiting clerks
and admins do formatting and editing (in fact, I know a few writers whose latent abilities as writers were discovered that way),
but I can't recall a time when a substantial number of companies actually *advertised* for such workers with those requirements.
Either these companies figure they can get qualified writers who will do the additional grunt work at a bargain because of the
current employment climate, or there's a concerted effort in certain sectors to redefine information development as a clerical
function. If it's the former, new grads like Amy may get entry-level opportunities that experienced writers don't because they
either won't apply or if they do will get rejected because the companies know they won't stay long, if it's the latter, it's going to
be frustrating (if not downright dangerous) to use some of the products that are being documented this way as they come to
market in the next few years. I think I'm going to start asking to see manuals before I buy stuff...
Gene Kim-Eng
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Re: The Tech Writing World: From: Diane Evans
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