Demographics (was Re: What does a Tech Writer Do?)

[Ad absurdum per aspera <JTCHEW -at- LBL -dot- GOV>]

ke10 -at- cus -dot- cam -dot- ac -dot- uk (K. Edgcombe) wrote:

>  ...are there many middle-aged women in the US technical writing
>  community?

Tons.  They may be concentrated in some job descriptions
(editorial) and some sectors (i.e., more in the national
labs, or in the university, than at small computer companies),
but there are a lot.  Some of the most significant contributors
to the literature and our conferences are women of... a certain
superiority of chronological expertise.  :)

The demographic aspects of this probably deserve closer
examination than the data at hand allow.  The stereo-
typical Silicon Valley computer environment, for instance,
strikes me as a young person's game.  People of either sex
become less interested in false starts, last-minute crises,
and routine 12-hour days as they get older.

> It's one of the pleasures of a group like this that one doesn't
> usually know people's ages, nor do they matter - but I'm curious.

It's also important to remember that surveying or observing
the Internet only tells what's going on among Internet users.
One is on thin ice when generalizing from these findings to
other populations:  the intersection might be much more select
than one might imagine.  I know people of all ages, in the
computer industry and elsewhere, who think it's a big waste
of time and want nothing to do with it.

Cheers,

Joe
"Just another personal opinion from the People's Republic of Berkeley"
Disclaimer: Even if my employer had a position on the subject,
I probably wouldn't be the one stating it on their behalf.