Re: Real Technical Communicators

[KARLA KITALONG <kitalong -at- MTU -dot- EDU>]

Saul Carliner writes, in part:

>     What the statistics say:  the majority of technical writers are employed
>     in the high tech field, primarily software documentation (over 50 percent
>     of us).  But majority and entirety are not the same thing.  We need to
>     hear from the scientific writers (I'm really excited about the new
>     professional interest committee), environmental writers (one of our
>     fastest growing markets as our society rushes to clean up the
>     environment and re-engineer products to eliminate contaminants),
>     and biomedical writers.

I would add that we need to hear from people other than those who write
about computers because different disciplines have different approaches,
and I, for one, don't want to get stuck thinking mine is the only right
way. If anything, technical communicators, as people who often
straddle disciplinary borders, need to be MORE open to ideas from
those "other folks."

And let's face it--the computer field ain't the safe haven it used to
be for newcomers. To my way of thinking, one of the things that makes a
person a real technical communicator is a REAL PAYCHECK!

Sorry if that sounds crass, but ...

Karla Saari Kitalong
Academic Computing Specialist and Academic Advisor to MTU's STC students
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, MI 49931
kitalong -at- mtu -dot- edu