Re: What tech writers "do"

[Dick Margulis <margulisd -at- comcast -dot- net>]

I think there's an aspect of this question that has eluded folks so far 
(although perhaps someone touched on it and I just missed it):

An individual tech writer is unlikely to be responsible for all of the 
different types of deliverables listed so far, and an individual tech 
writer is unlikely to be versed in all of the types of activity listed 
so far. Rather, what an individual tech writer _does_ is _any or all_ of 
the listed tasks, over the course of a career.

I only mention this because I can imagine someone listening to the 
variety of things tech writers do and being discouraged from ever 
starting on the path to becoming one. And I can imagine someone else 
listening to the variety of things tech writers do and trying to hire 
one person to do it all. Both would be making a false assumption.

Tech writers come in all shapes and sizes. Some are capable of doing 
fairly routine tasks, in a consistent way, year after year--and nothing 
more. Others are capable of absorbing and digesting new technologies and 
new organizational paradigms about as fast as the brain absorbs 
caffeine. And most of us fall somewhere in between, finding it a 
surmountable challenge to shift into a new aspect of the field every now 
and then but content to remain in a comfort zone most of the time.

The point, then, is that tech writers have, to some extent, a _choice_ 
among many possible areas in which to specialize as well as a choice to 
explore additional areas. That is different from the presumption that we 
are all expert in the many diverse kinds of information massage that 
fall under the rubric "technical writing."

Dick
http://www.dmargulis.com/
http://ampersandvirgule.blogspot.com/

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