[no subject]

["Eric J. Ray" <ejray -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM>]

At 09:38 AM 4/29/97 -0300, Jonathan Leer wrote:
>You're absolutely right. There are no established guidelines. But why =
>not try? You can't tell me that accounting doesn't put a value on =
>everything, including goodwill. EVERYONE HAS A VALUE, whether it is a =
>expense, revenue, or asset.

I think that the issue you're trying to arrive at isn't a broad,
cross-industry profile. Rather, it's a very specific -- company or
division specific -- characteristic. For one thing, many
of us write internal documentation or documentation that has
no direct relationship to sales. Others write documentation that
IS the product. Either way, the value depends on what people
want. Right now (today) the value of a job posting to me
approaches zero. Others value them quite highly. In six months,
I may value job postings much more highly.

However, the real crux is that the value of technical communication
depends almost completely on the company and in a variety
of ways. At the last regular job I had, documentation was
valued highly enough in my division to pay well and assume relo expenses
for incoming experienced writers. However, documentation was
valued so little in a different division that a project was cancelled
by division 1 because of documentation apathy in division 2.
Either way, the "value" is completely subjective.

What you need to do is find companies with a focus on quality
(there's one of those fuzzy words again) and a real interest
in providing the best possible product or service, as well as a
substantial budget for soft expenses. Then, you'll have something.

Eric





**************************************************
Eric J. Ray                      ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com
TECHWR-L Listowner         http://www.raycomm.com/

 TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot-  Send commands
   to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
  Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/  or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html