Re: Senior Tech Writer classification

["Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>]

I've not seen anything to make me think that this is
the motivation behind these "new age job descriptions."
The most common I've observed are:

The technical writers feel (correctly or incorrectly)
that they are looked upon and treated as second-
class contributors compared to the "developers"
(i.e., engineers/programmers/whatever).

They believe (correctly or incorrectly) that forcing
the word "developer" into their job titles will somehow
cause others to look upon and treat them as equals
with the "other developers."

Some pinheaded manager or HR drone who has
read the DOL data is roadblocking attempts to bring
writer pay grades into parity with engineer/programmer/
whatever grades because writers aren't "developers."

I don't think much of the first two reasons.  I don't
like the third, either, but sometimes if you want to
make something happen you just have to put on
your Dilbert tie and play the silly game.

Gene Kim-Eng


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "beelia" <beelia -at- gmail -dot- com>
> Huh - I never thought of that. I just take the "writing" part for 
> granted,
> and it's certainly not negligible - I've worked with lots of writers 
> who
> misspell and make grammatical errors. But I think it's a good idea to 
> focus
> on good technical skills because 1) it pays more than just being a 
> good
> writer and 2) your SMEs are more likely to respect your abilities.
>
> On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 6:14 AM, Dan Goldstein <
> DGoldstein -at- riverainmedical -dot- com> wrote:
>
>> "Information Developer," like "Technical Communicator," cleverly 
>> avoids
>> the question of whether the job requires writing skills.

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