Re: Do TWs need to be formally educated in engineering and science? was, RE: old school

["Collin Turner" <straylightsghost -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Formally educated. Hmmm...not unless the company in question is willing to
pay a LOT more money for our skills - and I mean a lot!

This is one conversation that simply irks me. A good tech writer will learn.
They will go write what they know and understand. They will research.
Period.

A good interviewer will weed out the good from the bad.

The sky in a perfect world will be blue and have white fluffy clouds.

I believe there are a few TW's who are perfectly happy to spend their
careers in one niche. That's great! I'm not one of those. I have in-depth
programming knowledge, I am also fluent in many other fields, enough so I
can hold my own (and earn respect) when speaking with engineers, financial
gurus, managers, marketing analysts, etc. I like to think of it as
"Recession Proofing" my career. It also helps up the pay scale.

-Collin
------------------------------
collinturner.com <http://www.collinturner.com>
The unofficial words of a Tech Writer
[image: Collin Turner] <http://www.collinturner.com>

On Tue, May 20, 2008 at 10:33 AM, Beth Agnew <Beth -dot- Agnew -at- senecac -dot- on -dot- ca>
wrote:

> My response to the subject line is Definitively No. But this tends to
> devolve into the old argument, and I've already camped on the
> No-you-don't-need-to-be-an-engineer-to-be-a-techwriter side, with no
> desire to resume lobbing thought bombs toward any folks who happen to be
> on the Yes side.
>
> With all due respect, Leonard, your comments were valid, but I suspect
> this is one more issue that generates more heat than light, and probably
> already takes up too much space in the archives.
> --Beth
>
> Beth Agnew, Professor
> Co-ordinator, Technical Communication Program
> Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology
> Toronto, ON
>
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