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Subject:RE: Education for tech writers From:shelly -dot- l -dot- hazard -at- exgate -dot- tek -dot- com To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com Date:Tue, 21 Mar 2000 07:32:21 -0800
>Peter said:
>I know this is a minority opinion but IMNVHO an undergraduate degree
>should be in any liberal arts subject.
I'm afraid I'll have to disagree here. My undergraduate degree is in
engineering, not liberal arts. I don't believe this makes me any less
suited for a technical writing career. Problem solving was the focus of
most of my core classes and was emphasized both through the lectures and in
the graded assignments and exams. I was taught to take a structured,
analytical approach to problems and their solutions.
The degree also provided me with a basic understanding of the 'technical
jargon'. I may not follow the engineers all the time, but I have enough
knowledge to understand in general what they're talking about. In my
experience, having a technical background in a technical writing job has
also provided me with more respect from engineering and other
technically-oriented people than a liberal arts degree would have.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying that a liberal arts degree is not
valuable as well. I'm just pointing out that there are also advantages that
shouldn't be overlooked in having a technical degree instead.
