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Subject:RE: Where do 'old' techwriters go to die? From:melonie -dot- mcmichael -at- amd -dot- com To:etymes -at- lts -dot- com, techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com Date:Tue, 7 Dec 1999 07:55:46 -0600
Howdy,
O.k. for those of you who have become pubs managers, how
did you get there? Did you luck into the job, get promoted
into it, or get hired into it?
I'm starting to take on more managing type responsibilities and
have discovered that I love it! Strangely enough, I find budgeting,
projecting, planning, hashing things out, working with people and
putting processes in place absolutely fascinating.
Also, what skills do you use the most in your position? What is
different about being a pubs manager verses a tech writer?
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Elna Tymes [SMTP:etymes -at- lts -dot- com]
>
> Since I've been in the business for something over 30 years, I guess I
> have some
> perspective on this. Good tech writers generally tend to follow a
> pattern: they
> put in some number of years as a salaried technical writer, rising through
> the
> ranks and eventually becoming a project leader. From there, the path is
> usually
> to pubs manager and contracting, usually with people going in and out of
> both
> roles. More older writers tend to choose contracting if they have the
> rest of
> their finances in order (esp. medical insurance) because of the hassles
> inherent
> in pubs management - anywhere! Some stay as senior writers in
> organizations that
> recognize the value of senior individual contributors. Unfortunately, a
> lot of
> senior writers and pubs managers get re-orged out of their companies just
> shy of
> full retirement pay, and have to make some important decisions in a hurry.
>
>