Re: Rant
I've been going on interviews for tech writing jobs in NYC, and I am
wondering:
Are there any tech writing jobs anymore in which employers will just let you
do your job and write a freaking website/manual? Every interview I've been
on it's been about 'vision' and drinking the company kool-aid and such.
This seems cyclical to me.. the unnatural attention to vision, process, and methodology seems to be the prelude to a burst of actual development activity. Whether this actually happens this time around remains to be seen.
Companies suddenly find their projects have funding, and they need to assure their bosses they have a plan to spend the money. The muckety-mucks like to be assured that the projects in the trenches are aligned at every step with their high-level business goals - thus all the attention to vision, process, and methodology.
I also observed this in the early/mid '90s, when companies were focused heavily on process and methodology. TQM, ISO-9000, Baldrige award, Japanese management, re-engineering - anything they thought might save them. None of this stuff really worked, of course. It turns out that what saved them was (as usual) cash and hard work - VC money started pouring in, and young web-aware grads started busting their a**es in return for options.
Also, as projects gather funding, the mid-level managers are building out their teams, and they need to be assured that their subjects will be subservi- I mean, "share the same vision."
Once coding is actually underway and deadlines begin to loom, managers will become much more focused on leaving people alone to do their jobs. As the IT activity increases, employee turnover will increase. The kool-aid drinkers will falter, and managers will suddenly become a lot more results-oriented - "The hell with the vision, this needs to be done by 9/15!!!"
Note there is nothing wrong with learning all the vision, process, and methodology skills - it's not all BS. I paid my dues in those particular trenches, and in down times I was able to get work with those skills.
Until then, stay strong, like Ulysses in the Land of the Lotus-Eaters.
Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that, with outsourcing and everything,
the turkey may be done. Should I just pack it in and open a hotdog stand? Or
are there some jobs out there in which you are 'left alone' to create a
decent product?
It has nothing to do with outsourcing.
Mike O.
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