Re: Maybe We (Don't) Need a New Job Title

[Dianne Blake <write-it -at- home -dot- com>]

>Karen Field wrote:
>Also, the issue is what I approached (vs. "attacked"), not the poster. >(If the poster feels attacked, I apologize. However, posting >contradictory opinions to someone's post is not equivalent to attacking >the poster.)

   As the poster of the original message I do not feel attacked.  I love
   a lively discussion, and it looks like one has ensued.  Good!

>You can bet those skills will appear on my resume, and you can bet I'll
>expect a pay increase when I acquire and use these skills here. 

   I wouldn't expect a pay raise for learning HTML or web skills. The
   whole point of my original post was that the expectations of what 
   skills a technical writer should posses is ever expanding, AND they
   don't want to pay more for it.

   In one of my more recent positions, I started as a contractor and 
   they were constantly after me to become an "employee".  I had been
   working on contract for over 9 months, they liked my work, but not
   my price.  

   The man I was working for was excellent to work for and he suggested 
   that if they changed my job title to Information Specialist, he could 
   then describe more of what I was doing, and thus get me a meaningful 
   wage. He felt that there were preconceived ideas of what a technical
   writer did and that what I did was much more than that.

   After much discussion and working with the job description, and a 
   corresponding hike in pay, I finally agreed to come on as an 
   employee.

   The company later moved to Denver and I did not follow, but now they
   have a job description that better fits what the person must do.
   Somehow most people feel that technical writers just sit around and
   write all day.  And although some days, that is ALL I do, most days
   are much more diverse.
  
- Dianne Blake
write-it -at- home -dot- com