Re[2]: Career Path

[Don Smith <dsmith -at- ACCESSBEYOND -dot- COM>]

     Dave Whelan wrote, in  part:

     "This way you will become as good a writer as you can be, you will
     acquire valuable and portable skills, and you will demonstrate
     desirable traits that will get you noticed. Your writing career will
     expose you to other interesting aspects of information engineering. In
     due course you will get more than your fair share of opportunities.
     You might even consider abandoning the traditional corporate career
     path by starting your own small business as a freelance technical
     writer."

     Reading between the lines, I believe that Dave is saying what I
     believe about the "upward mobility path" for technical writers. That
     is to say, there really isn't any. In general, I do not believe that
     "management" looks at the best technical writers (let alone other good
     technical writers) as a possible management candidate, or transfer to
     engineering, or "corporate",etc.. In other words, I truly believe that
     technical writers, particularly *good* ones, are considered just that,
     good technical writers. Valuable? Sure! But as technical writers. In
     thirty years or so for various electronic company's, I can not
     remember *one* person so *promoted", though two moved to Pubs Manager.
     (I admit my memory is getting worse!)

     This does not, of course, preclude tech writing as a good occupation.
     I for one think it is a great one. But as a good upward path into
     something else, it ain't!

     Regards,

     Don Smith
     Sr. Tech Writer

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