Engineers

[Joe Schrengohst <jschreng -at- CISCO -dot- COM>]

You wrote,

"I work with a smart young woman, graduating soon with a degree in Computer
Engineering. Yesterday she ranted on Tech Writers as "useless, overpaid, and
not altogether capable" of understanding what she and her peers do."

********************************************************************************
After working about 10 years as an "engineer" of one kind or another, I found
that I really enjoyed the "information transfer" involved in Technical Writing and I
was fairly good at it -- compared to other "Technical Communicators" at the time.
After 25 years of hearing the same sort of drivel that your "smart young woman"
laid on you, I've decided that she may actualy have a valid point.

Basically, engineering and writing abilities are based on the inherent capability of
two different sides of the human brain (right vs. left, I believe). It's roughly akin to
the "men are from Mars, women are from Venus" thing. There are a few of us
(Technical Writers) who can adroitly use both sides of our brain, but the majority
cannot. Does this make them "lesser persons"? Certainly not. A person's native
intelligence (IQ) is largely a matter of the genetic chaos that creates one's DNA.
You and I had absolutely no control over which ancestor mated with whom and
added this or that chromosome that wound up being "us."

So, if we're "not altogether capable of understanding" your young lady Computer
Engineer, tell her she should be very thankful for that. If we could, the world as
we know it would become overpopulated with Computer Engineers and there'd
be no one left to explain their mavelous creations to that other segment of the
popoulation euphemistically known as "users."



Joe Schrengohst
Contract Technical Writer
Cisco Systems
Network-to-Users BU
170 West Tasman Drive
San Jose, CA 95134
E-Mail:  jschreng -at- cisco -dot- com
Cisco Phone:  (408) 527-9844
Cisco Fax:        (408) 527-1488
Home Phone:  (775) 782-4129
Home Fax:        (775) 782-5585

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=