Re: Source for statistics on the technical writing field

Subject: Re: Source for statistics on the technical writing field
From: "Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>
To: "Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 13:23:18 -0700

In most cases, the first choice would be for someone who already has the
related knowledge, followed by someone who has "sort of related"
knowledge, followed by someone with an established track record of being
able to quickly acquire such knowledge.

Some years ago I helped write the instructions for an engineering
application plug-in, mostly because I had been a user of the base app
during my previous life as an engineer. It turned out that the only
other person on the development team with hands-on user experience had
left several months before I was brought in, and they ended up having to
throw out a large portion of the work they had done since his departure
because I found that the developers had made numerous incorrect
assumptions about the way the app was commonly used. My arrival was
described as "fortuitous" by the company's CEO, but I don't think the
development team was nearly as happy about it at first...

Gene Kim-Eng


----- Original Message -----
From: "Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>
>Exactly. Except that I'd say what's necessary (and in demand) isn't so
>much an extensive technical background as the ability and willingness
>to
>learn and understand the technical information.

>In telecommunications, for instance, a writer who reads the relevant
>RFCs and then asks intelligent questions about the product's
>conformance
>to the standards is far more valuable than the one who asks the SME,
>"Have you got a write-up about this SIP stuff that I can use?"

>More valuable still is the writer who can explain to the engineer that
>the latter misinterpreted something in RFC 4028 when he implemented
>support for session timers. I love it when I get to do that. :-)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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References:
Source for statistics on the technical writing field: From: john rosberg
Re: Source for statistics on the technical writing field: From: Peter Neilson
RE: Source for statistics on the technical writing field: From: Kat Kuvinka
Re: Source for statistics on the technical writing field: From: Gene Kim-Eng
RE: Source for statistics on the technical writing field: From: Combs, Richard

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