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Subject:Re: how does one become a techwriter From:Rick Lippincott <rjl -at- BOSTECH -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 19 Dec 1995 10:05:43 EST
Charles Good talked about how telecommunications engineers were retrained
as tech writers, and:
>Many senior technicians and customer service engineers were saved by
>becoming training material developers and technical writers.
Sadly, I saw the same thing in aerospace in the late '80s. As the engineering
staffs were cut, the tech pubs department suddenly saw an influx of engineers
transformed into tech writers. Many of them were uninterested in documentation
and not thrilled about the change, but for them it was just slightly above
the alternative of going out the door. There was really no secret that the
company planned to stash these engineers over in tech pubs until "the
crisis" was over, and then move them back to engineering.
Unfortunately, this of course meant that a number of trained tech writers had
to be let go, to make room for the incoming engineers. That's the moment
when your "true value" becomes apparent.
Rick Lippincott
Boston Technology
Wakefield, MA
rjl -at- bostech -dot- com
