TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
> There are good supervisors and bad ones. From my experience, it has
> little to do whether they have a tech communication background or not.
> Incidentally, the bad ones with a TC background are usually a lot
> worse than the bad ones without.
I am reading all these replies about managers with amusement (and a bit of
trepidation)
As I mentioned in another post, I have recently become the manager of our group
(Software Support). I have no prior management skills; heck, I don't even have
formal technical writing training but I have been doing it for 15 years.
So here I am, a non-experienced manager with a tech writing background. I am
Edwin's worst nightmare ;)
Regarding the poster's original question -- none of my managers have had a tech
writing background. As Bill and John have mentioned (I fully agree with both of
their posts), I haven't found this to be a problem. In fact, in most cases, I think it
works to your advantage. If you do a good job, you'll be regarded as the "expert"
in the company, and people will respect your opinions and your judgment.
Dana W.
***************************
Dana Worley
Manager, Software Support Group
Campbell Scientific, Inc.
Microsoft MVP, Windows Help 2003-2006
WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today!. http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
