Re: How much has tech writing increased?

[John Posada <jposada -at- NOTES -dot- CC -dot- BELLCORE -dot- COM>]

In response to:
>>Prestige rating is "Average." Stress and strain rating is "Low."
                                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Nancy Lynn Hayes wrote:
>I'd laugh myself silly if this wasn't so pitiful.  I'd love to know who...

-Dear Nancy:
-I guess you shouldn't try going into a really high stress profession such as
-health professional, fire fighter, police work, or teaching junior high
-school in the inner city.  I'm not saying that the stress level is low in
-tech writing, but it may be more medium.  We do have to contend with
-deadlines (sometimes unreasonable), equipment failures, uncooperative SMEs,
-and lack of information, *sometimes*.  But we are rarely in physical danger,
-nor do lives weigh in the balance if we flub up.
------------------

Hmmm...I guess you've never been in one of my writing review meetings with my
SMEs.  I'd swear my life WAS in danger.  Ever try to tell a Ph.D. SME that the
word "analyzation" might not be the right word for a particular situation...(or
for any situation)?

Seriously...while the stress of policework may be great, anyone can feel as
stressed in their particular field as anyone else.  On any given day, a person
from any profession can feel stressed enough to suck on a 45 and (some) people
from (almost) every  profession do.  The pressure was high *to them*.

I think the difference is that people in our profession experience stress in a
series of peaks and valleys where some other professions experience constant
stress.  At times, however, our periods of stress can be just as real and
manifest themselves just as overtly.

I do bid responses and proposals that are usually sprints toward a 2-3 week
finish line.  They start off slow and peak with about 48 hours of frantic
activity.  Immediately upon delivering my document to the next (and last)
stage, I'd swear I experience postpartum depression that usually lasts about 24
hours.
------

- If you feel "hopeless", at least you can ask yourself the question, "In 100
- years will anyone remember if this manual didn't get out on time?"  In most
-----

But, they will remember when it comes time to renew my contract and that has
more impact for me then what happens 100 years from now.

John Posada
Technical Writer
Bell Communications Research, Piscataway, NJ
(908) 699-5839 (W)
jposada -at- notes -dot- cc -dot- bellcore -dot- com  (W)
jposada -at- bs -dot- camba -dot- com  (H)
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