Re: new kid on the block (long) Take TWO

[Martin Bosworth <martinhbosworth -at- gmail -dot- com>]

J.C.,

My first response to your plight got nerfed by LyrisList's quoting
requirements, so here's my own "Take Two".

The more you describe this position, the more it sounds like it's
probably not the kind of place you want to be working at. Any company
that thinks documentation for software is a luxury has obviously lost
sight of how important the end-user feedback is. Now, this may be the
way things go in the tech comm world these days, but the fact that
there's still such a high demand for people like us indicates that
it's not the norm.

<<When I ask former writer about his documentation
procedures and working with others, I get  "This
company is used to the luxury of having me as the
writer. I know so much about the technology that I
just figure everything out myself and no one has ever
had to review my work. They are not used to having to
review anything and are spoiled in that way. They will
have to get used to you asking them to review your
work, but most of the time their feedback is useless
anyway.">>

How arrogant! No one, no matter how good they are, is so perfect that
a little peer review won't help them out. There's a big difference
between having confidence in your skills--which we all should
have--and being so egotistical that you think you don't need to be
critiqued. Not to mention the fact that the Doc Specialist quit...If
the company was willing to utilize his work and productivity without
even the slightest bit of inclusion in the process, I'd walk too. The
difference between his situation and yours is that he was there for a
good long time, and you have not been.

Still, if I were you, I'd give serious thought to either putting your
foot down and demonstrating how your expertise can be better utilized,
or putting the resume back out there and looking for other work. If
you can't afford to do so, then be patient and do all you can to
understand how their office politics operate, so you can use it to
your advantage when you get--or create--an opportunity to show your
skills off.

I've been in positions like this myself, and it's terrible. You just
need to hang in there, do the best you can, and don't let the bruised
egos undervalue your worth.

Good luck!

Martin

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