Skills vs educaton (was: Senior technical writer?)

Subject: Skills vs educaton (was: Senior technical writer?)
From: ArroxaneUllman -at- aol -dot- com
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 09:14:32 EDT



_Jessica -dot- Weissman -at- hillcrestlabs -dot- com_
(mailto:Jessica -dot- Weissman -at- hillcrestlabs -dot- com) wrote:

I don't understand why formal education in TW should be a requirement,
though it might help. A writer who produces good work without the
formal education is extra-qualified, I think. We are constantly faced
with developing content without enough access to the sources; someone
who has technical writing skills without the formal education has
demonstrated this skill.

I think you could make that argument about many fields. For instance, a very
close friend of mine is a whiz with computers, has over fifteen years of
experience with hardware and software, and has a dozen patents under his own
name. Despite this, he still gets declined for jobs and contract work purely
because he lacks a degree in CS or Engineering. I won't get into his personal
life, but lets just say he's got medical reasons for not attending college.

Perhaps what is less important than general experience or a degree is the
type of tools or courses learned. If I were to hire a TW, I'd expect him/her to
discuss various projects achieved with different tools as well as modern
theories in Technical Communication. I wouldn't care whether they obtained their
knowledge from a classroom or by their own initiative.

For recruiters (and managers) who know nothing about the jobs for which they
recruit candidates, it is far easier to weed out those who lack degrees than
those who lack wisdom and knowledge.

My three cents.

Arroxane

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