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Re: Nuts. Was: How about Keeping the List Civil? Was: Employmentquestion
Subject:Re: Nuts. Was: How about Keeping the List Civil? Was: Employmentquestion From:"Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> To:"'TECHWR-L'" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:01:42 -0700
I can't speak for anyone else on this (a lot of tech writers I know
seem to have some sort of martyr complex about their place in the
world and I don't want to interfere with what works for them), but
if I thought my work was undervalued, that I was thought of as an
overpaid anything or that I wasn't being compensated adequately
for what I do, I'd be in another line of work. Looking back on
the totality of my work history as a design and test engineer and
then as a technical writer/publications manager, I believe that I
bring in a higher income, have advanced further in the various
companies I have worked for/with, and seem to have a lot more
people calling on me for my advice and appearing to think
reasonably highly of my opinions than I would have had if I had
continued working as an engineer. YMMV, but I have never
had a moment when I thought that maybe I was "nuts" for having
changed careers.
As for the part about working with people who don't have a
clue, doesn't everybody?
Gene Kim-Eng
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lauren" <lt34 -at- csus -dot- edu>
> I'm sorry that I can't find a Technical Writing tie-in for this, but I
> thought that the "nuts" comment was funny. Besides, how do you describe a
> person that:
>
> * wants to do a job that is generally under-valued.
> * seems to thrive on working with people that don't have a clue.
> * is sometimes thought of as an over-paid secretary or word processor, but
> is probably not compensated enough for the work that is provided.
>
> I don't know what to say about this person. "Nut" seems fine to me. At
> least when the term is used the good humor that was intended.
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