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Subject:RE: Top ten myths of technical communication From:Tom Murrell <trmurrell -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 18 Oct 2000 11:30:37 -0700 (PDT)
--- BMcClain -at- centura -dot- com wrote:
> One odd misconception of technical writing that senior P/As have
> voiced to me in various jobs: The natural career progression of
> technical writers is for them to eventually become programmers.
> Apparently the rationale is that with increasing experience in
> software development, TWs finally slide into developing specs with
> SMEs, then discovering high-level user requirements, and finally they
> wind up writing the code instead of "merely" explaining it.
> However, nobody who's suggested this myth to me could come up with
> more than anecdotal evidence of this progressive career change.
I guess I'm living anecdotal evidence that, at least some of the time,
this career path is reversed. I started doing program development in
1972. In 1989 I became a Technical Writer. It was a conscious career
change. Instead of "merely" writing the code, I have evolved into
someone who can explain its arcana to users in such a way that, whether
or not they are satisfied with the product, that *can* use it
successfully.
Does that mean evolution is a two-way street? <g> Or did I perhaps
devolve?
