RE: apologia pro vita sua (was Re: The Old Argument: FrameMa

[Win Day <winday -at- home -dot- com>]

At 04:28 PM 1/24/00 -0500, Brady, Joy wrote:
>	Mark Baker wrote:
>
>	"I haven't talked about the skills needed by a technical writer. I
>have
>> talked about the things companies require technical writers to do. I have
>> said that companies should not require technical writers to do graphic
>> design, layout, DTP, and pre-prodiction work. As long as companies
>> continue
>> to require these things, tech writers will need to know them. That doesn't
>> make it the right way to run a department."
>> 
>> 
>I do find it interesting that nobody has agreed with Mark on this:  a tech
>writer is expected to have an incredible array of skills.  I remark to
>myself again and again that this work group must consists of especially
>talented people.  Why do companies expect us to have such an array in order
>to be employable?
>

But why should technical writing as a profession be any different from any
other profession? <grin>

Think of teachers -- when is the last time you knew a teacher who had
nothing to do but just teach, because there was a whole support staff to:

* create exams
* mark exams
* create lesson plans
* create homework assignments
* mark homework assignments
* maintain order in the classroom
* counsel troubled students
* assist students with lessons
* assist at extracurricular activities

and so on, and so on.  Since I'm not a teacher, I'm sure I missed quite a
few!  But you get my point.

Win
----------------

Win Day
Technical Writer

http://www.wordsplus.net

mailto:winday -at- wordsplus -dot- net