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A person whose training is geared too much toward liberal arts or a
technical field is not going to be a great technical writer.
Pure techies tend to downplay the softer side of technical writing
(user-friendly wording, attractive layout, etc.) which are required in
good documentation, while pure liberal arts folks tend not to fully grasp
what they are talking about. That's not intended as an insult...it just
reflects a lack of training in a certain area. Many, many writers without
much technical training often "just don't get" what they're writing
about, and it takes a techie to catch such errors.
I feel very strongly that all technical writers should attempt to be as
balanced as possible. You can't ignore either side of the profession. If
the technical stuff in intimidating, just keep plugging away at it until
you become comfortable with it. If the "artsy" stuff seems like a waste
of time, just remind yourself that the documentation's not much help if
no one wants to read it.
My combination of skills has made me very marketable. I have a liberal
arts degree (Spanish), and also took most of our Engineering school's
pre-engineering courses (over 30 hours). This technical training has
helped me immensely. The more technical frames of reference you have
(calculus, physics, computers, etc.), the easier it is to learn the
concepts of fields that are new to you.
Arleta Wohlrab
wohlraba -at- bscc -dot- bls -dot- com
-----Original Message-----
From: Donald Ray [SMTP:dray -at- CELCORE -dot- COM]
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 1997 3:41 PM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: Re: Academic careers vs. technical writing
All six of our technical writers have heavy technical backgrounds.
Sorry, but there ain't a liberal arts major anywhere in the group.
>----------
>From: Scott Miller[SMTP:scott_miller -at- CCMAIL -dot- COM]
>Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 1997 3:23 PM
>To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
>Subject: Re: Academic careers vs. technical writing
>
>>>>Mucho snippo...
>I have a related question--just how does a liberal arts person break
into
>technical writing? <<<
>
>This is an odd question since almost all of the technical writers I know
have
>a
>liberal arts background. I was an art major, and fell into writing via
>graphic
>arts, illustration, and paste-up work. Off the top of my head, other
writers
>I've worked with have backgrounds in music, anthropology, English
literature,
>art history, philosophy, religion, education, and political science.
>Technical
>writing seems to be where a lot of people land after they get their
>completely
>impractical liberal arts college degree and fall off a cliff,
career-wise.
>It
>worked out just fine for me!
>
>- Scott Miller
>Lotus cc:Mail
>Scott_Miller -at- ccmail -dot- com
>
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