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Technical Communication in the Computer Industry: Survey Results
Subject:Technical Communication in the Computer Industry: Survey Results From:Rachel Garb <rgarb -at- VNET -dot- IBM -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 14 Sep 1993 17:16:11 PDT
Back in April, I posted a survey for technical communicators in
the computer industry who received tech. comm. degrees/certificates
within the past 5 years. We wanted to find out how well their
educational experiences prepared them for the jobs they now do.
Some of you participated in that survey (thanks!), and the results
are in. I, along with fellow colleague and TECHWR-L follower
Julianne Edmunds, will be presenting the results next month at
the IEEE International Professional Communications Conference in
Philadelphia.
In the survey, we asked people to rate 32 computer technical writing
activities on a) the activity's relevance to their jobs, b) how
much it was covered in their educations, and c) how much they were
exposed to it in their internships, if any.
We wanted to post a portion of the results here, and begin a
a follow-up discussion to hear your reactions to these results.
A total of 26 surveys were returned. Respondents represented
18 different computer-related companies, and 14 different technical
communication programs, from which they received all levels of degrees
and certificates.
The top 5 activities that people said were most relevant to their
job are (in order):
1. Producing reference manuals
2. Revising
3. Producing user manuals
4. Analyzing the audience
5. Editing
The top 5 activities covered in their education are:
Based on the ratings given to job relevance and amount of education,
we determined, for each activity, to what degree the education
prepared for the job. The 5 most *undereducated* activities turned
out to be:
1. Producing reference manuals
2. Indexing
3. Producing user manuals
4. Holding reviews
5. Documenting in-house process
Notice that 2 of these most undereducated activities are also
2 of the most relevant job activities.
What are your reactions to these results? Do they seem to parallel
your own situation? Are you surprised with the results?
How could technical communication programs be improved to better
meet the needs indicated by the survey? If you could design a
curriculum for technical communication in the computer industry,
what kinds of areas would it cover and how?
Rachel Garb Internet: rgarb -at- vnet -dot- ibm -dot- com
Information Developer Phone: (408) 463-4845
IBM Corporation, J35/C461
P.O. Box 49023 IBM mail: GARB at STLVM27
San Jose, CA 95161-9023 Tieline: 8/543-4845
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What's the difference between ignorance and apathy?
I don't know and I don't care.
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