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RE: Is technical writing a sellout or fallback career?
Subject:RE: Is technical writing a sellout or fallback career? From:"Leonard C. Porrello" <Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- SoleraTec -dot- com> To:"Technical Writer" <tekwrytr -at- hotmail -dot- com>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:54:15 -0700
I always find it fascinating when someone implies that the type of
excellence in writing required for good technical writing can just be
picked up (by, say, software developers who just happen to have nothing
better to do) while simultaneously suggesting that technical expertise
needs to come through (or at least be evidenced by) "certification" or
some other type of formal education.
In contradiction of this claim, I have just picked up the technical
expertise I've needed to write intelligently in cellular telephony,
enterprise resource planning, and data archiving--three totally
different industries. But while I do have an aptitude for writing, my
mastery in writing non-fiction prose has come only through formal
education.
If formal education in engineering is required to indicate that someone
has an interest and aptitude in "technology", formal education in
journalism or English is equally required to indicate that someone has
an interest and aptitude in writing. I don't think either proposition is
true. Having said that, however, I have to add that programming and TW
only have as much in common as medicine and automobile mechanics. One of
the reasons there is so much crap documentation in the world is that
many organizations assume that anyone who can design a widget or
software application can also probably write competently. The evidence I
have seen speaks loudly to the contrary. Engineers who can write well
enough to publish are as rare as literary types who can understand
technology well enough to write intelligently about it.
The best documentation teams I have worked on have had a balanced
combination of people from literary and technology backgrounds.
Leonard
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From: techwr-l-bounces+leonard -dot- porrello=soleratec -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+leonard -dot- porrello=soleratec -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- c
om] On Behalf Of Technical Writer
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 5:33 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Is technical writing a sellout or fallback career?
Labeling--as Korzybski pointed out--is not always rational behavior. It
may be comforting to define your work as TW, BA, or some other category,
but it is not always wise to do so.
"Technology" is a big field. Many programmers discovered TW after the
dot.com bust as a nice filler between programming gigs. However, a lot
of "new" TWs understand that programming and TW have a lot in common;
writing clear instructions to humans is not fundamentally different than
writing clear instructions to a computer.
The old days of English and journalism majors dominating the field are
fading rapidly. In the part of the country I work, vendor certification
in Java, Oracle, or Unix is considered a sign of someone interested in
technology, interested in furthering his or her job skills, and capable
of discussing topics with SMEs as equals. All VERY big pluses. Similar
situations exist in non-computer fields such as biotech, medical,
insurance, finance, etc. Knowledge in the field you are working in is
considered mandatory.
The myth of "we need not worry our pretty little heads about this,
because we are user advocates, not SMEs, and the typical user is not too
bright" is--thankfully--diminishing. That is, while skill in reducing
complexity to manageable chunks is still as useful as ever, more TWs
seem to be writing for increasingly technical audiences. Subject matter
expertise is becoming as necessary for a TW as for a SME.
The BA field (if one can actually be found) is based on the disconnect
between business and IT; the business people lack technical skills and
the IT people are clueless about business. If your TW position happens
to be labeled BA, the more business skills you acquire (up to and
including an MBA, if you feel so inclined), the better prepared you will
be to excel at your job. That is fundamentally different than being a
wannabe MBA or programmer or whatever; it is adding extra dimensions of
competency to your skill set.
tekwrytrhttp://www.tekwrytrs.com/ - Contract business analysis and
solutions development in Visual Basic .NET, ASP .NET, SQL Server, and
XML. Specializing in cost-effective rapid application development (RAD),
prototyping, and service-oriented architecture (SOA) IT solutions for
SMBs.
_________________________________________________________________
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