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> From: Godfrey, Joelle A (Joelle)[SMTP:jafrey -at- lucent -dot- com]
>
> After reading the discussions of Tech Writer Levels on this list and
> others,
> I had a couple of questions. Are there any examples of 'Senior Level'
> quality tech writing on-line? Are there any books that provide examples
> of
> excellent tech writing?
>
> Joelle Godfrey
> 'Over the mountains there are mountains' - Chang-Rae Lee
>
I don't know that I've ever seen a piece of technical writing and said to
myself, "There's a classic example of work that only a Senior Technical
Writer could have produced," or "Here's work obviously done by a junior TW."
There have been books that I thought were well done, and books that I
thought could have been done better. The same goes for web sites or online
help.
Often the title of Senior Technical Writer denotes a pay grade or rate. Not
infrequently having this title inflicted on one is a sign of experience in
the field. Experience seems to be what separates the Senior TW from the
title of Technical Writer, but it is equally true that if one is being hired
at a given salary one may have to take the title of Senior because that's
the title for that Job Grade, experience having little to do with it.
Even the concept of "excellent tech writing" is going to be determined by
how well it meets the needs of the target audience. Again, I can say that
there are technical documents that I have found excellent, primarily because
they met my needs. There have been other books that I didn't feel met my
needs. That doesn't mean that they weren't fine examples of documentation;
they just didn't meet my expectations. Perhaps I wasn't part of the
audience.
Personally, I'm partial to the "...For Dummies" books, but I can assure you
that you'll hear from others who think those books are terrible.
I think the answers you seek are too subjective to obtain general agreement.
Tom Murrell
Senior Technical Writer (Now even *I* don't know what that means)
