Re: Prosaic Prose ;-) [Huge]

[Shorter Rankin <srank -at- PACBELL -dot- NET>]

Paul J. Sisler wrote:
>
[taken out of context]
>
  Yes there are crappy writers everywhere.  But do we
> *really* expect engineers (I'm certain some are fine writers)
> to write as  well as people who make a living doing it?
> Certainly not.  Otherwise, programmers would still be writing manuals
> and online help (sorry, software bias here).
>
> paul
>
> paul -at- sisler -dot- com
>

Paul, Thanks for the post. This gives me an excuse to change the subject
and ask a question I've been curious about for some time now. I keep
reading job postings for tech writers. When I get down to the
requirements section I see C/C++ often and then I am pretty
uncomfortable. What level of proficiency  in C/C++ are the prospective
employers actually asking for? Do they want the tech writer to have the
ability to write commercial grade C/C++ programs or do they want the
applicant to be able to discuss this code in an informed way with the
SME? It seems to me there is a world of difference here.

I guess what I'm saying is if the tech writer can write commercial grade
programs then why isn't he/she looking for a job as a programmer rather
than a tech writer?

Comments anyone?


Shorter Rankin, MBA
Sacramento, CA
attracted to REXX, BASIC, Turbo Pascal, HTML etc but not C/C++

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