Re: New Thread - Technical Writing Job Advertisements

["Westra, Kayla L." <13718westr -at- KCPBLDG01 -dot- BV -dot- COM>]

>Why, oh, WHY do so many people assume that technical writing is only about
>high-level computer documentation? I write mostly internal documentation:
>employee manuals, paperwork procedures, and a variety of documents that
>don't involve computers at all. For my projects that ARE computer-
>related, I don't have to understand programming to document a Windows
>application; I don't need to speak Unix to write instructions for our
>Unix-based production control system; and I don't need to know the inner
>workings of our network to tell users how to use the e-mail systems.

Kate Schommer                             |    Unless you're the lead dog,
scho0106 -at- gold -dot- tc -dot- umn -dot- edu                  |     the scenery never changes.
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities     |

Kate--

Hooray for you!  While computer documentation is a part of my job, it is
only part of my job.  Editing, writing internal docs, etc. and coordination
is another part.  That's why I like my job.  Variety!  I think one of the
best things I bring to user's manuals is that I _don't_ understand the
operating systems completely.  This makes the engineers be complete in their
explanation.  (Unless, of course, the reader knows all about the operating
system, in which case I don't have to learn it, either!)

BTW--Go Gophers!  I'm a Mankato State grad myself, but a lot of my friends
went to the U of M (mostly ag campus, but some in tech comm.).  Minnesota,
hail to thee......

Kayla Westra
13718westr -at- kcpbldg01 -dot- bv -dot- com
Black & Veatch