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The people who pay the technical writers, or any other writer for that matter,
for a particular job seem to care very little about a degree, rather they are
concerned with can the person they are hiring complete--efficiently and
effectively--the task.
In talking to a technical engineer yesterday, he expressed disdain for
academics--yes, there is probable a slight prejudice here--who are not active
in the "real world." His concern is that he is going to throw a pile of
documents at you and can the tech writer make a manual out of it. He really
isn't concerned over educational history of the tech writer. Granted, the
degree may get a person's foot in the door, but if that person can't do the job
or has no relevant experience that fact will be discovered quickly.
