Re: anyone else in the same boat? (Long)

["Keith Cronin" <kcronin -at- DALEEN -dot- COM>]

Joan - your post was uplifting! I?ve DEFINITELY been in that boat!

At the risk of being flamed by the "old farts" on the TECHWR-L list, I
want to say that the path you?ve taken is a sound one, and may even offer
some advantages.

I frequently see some veteran writers on this list telling us to start at
the bottom of the computer industry, and/or that a programming background
is required. I think this opinion is being voiced because that's how THEY
did it - and/or because they can't believe a lowly non-bulging-forehead
sub-humanoid could grasp tech writing.

I'm a case study of a person who did the opposite. I found myself in my
late thirties with a music degree that did not pay the bills, and took the
suggestion of my brother (an engineer at the Evil Microsoft Empire) to
explore tech writing. I studied the career itself (favorite book: "The
Tech Writing Game" by Janet Van Wicklen), and determined that I DID want
to do tech writing, and went busily about the task of learning more about
the profession.

Already possessing some family-learned writing skills (the product of two
journalist parents), I went back to school, and took some writing classes
and introductory computer classes, and in 9 months landed an entry-level
tech writing position at a local software developer. I worked hard,
learned a lot, and in 3 years I've tripled my income!

The beauty of this profession is that (so far) there is NO standard for
what is required. Yes, there are now schools offering TW degrees, but the
majority of WORKING tech writers do not have these degrees. They are
ex-journalists, ex-programmers, ex-everythings - it's a profession FILLED
with career-changers!

I mentioned that the non-technical technical writer (what a mouthful) may
even have some advantages - what advantage could I possibly see to this
approach?

The freshness of the "non-technical" person can provide him or her with an
objectivity that more closely mirrors that of the TARGET of all our
writing - the USER.

In my first job, I found myself asking questions that other employees who
were already familiar with our product NEVER asked. They often made
assumptions based on their experience, which had little in common with the
experience and education level of the minimum-wage CSRs that would be
using the product in question (and its documentation).

In essence, it made me the perfect "For Dummies" test subject for our
documentation: If _I_ could understand it, ANYBODY could! (Go ahead
Andrew, load your missiles!)

While I respect the skills and backgrounds of the more experienced posters
on the TECHWR-L list, I have to say, there's more than one way to skin a
cat.

I think you can be a tech writer if you can learn, organize, and present
information to your audience.

And you can do that without knowing C++. 

Good luck - sounds like you?re doing great! 


-Keith Cronin

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