RE: Losing my profession?

[david -dot- locke -at- amd -dot- com]

Tracy Boyington said this in response to a request for my reference on the
two year average length of a TW's career--I don't have a citation for it,
sorry:

> Then let's hope it's no longer true... I hate to think of us as a bunch of
short-timers. ;-)

I've been doing this for 12 years. Some other people that asked me about
this today have been doing this for 20 and 40 years. 

Things are different today. The pay is better. And, there is some
realization that code is not a product. For the people that find the coder
is product mentality a problem, there are alternatives.

I find working for a software startup (not dot.coms) liberating. I meet
schedules. There are no policy compliance issues. I can see where others
would have problems with it. But, for me this is where I want to be. TW is
something I could leave, but not my industry. 

For many years, I've worked as the lone TW. For the last four years I worked
with other TWs, and had doc managers. My current doc manager is a real
manager. The prevous one was a manager in paycheck only. Working with and
for TWs has made burnout less of a reality. This is an industry trend that
will continue, and as it does so, our working conditions will improve. 

And, as I am now on the verge of becoming a doc manager myself, I look at it
as part of my job to make sure that my TWs don't have to deal with burnout
grade @#$%. That's my job. It is also part of my services to them to ensure
that they have a career built on escalating responsibilities rather than
years of the same over and over like I have experienced. We can put an end
to most of the problematic aspects of this career. But, not by hiding them.

As long as we as TWs don't get complacent, and continue to demand higher
salaries, better working conditions, and, yes, some respect things will
continue to improve. Issues like burnout, and meaningful career paths are
things we TWs need to address rather than sweep under the rug. 

I know that the people on this list support each other. Back when I started
there was no resource for this kind of support. Techwr-L is part of the
answer. This list will help TWs get past those moments that make us want to
chuck this and walk away. And, we have the Ray's to thanks for that.

David


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