poll question
* Not at all interested in the subject
under the current circumstances. This question not only relates to recent discussions about how much technical knowledge we need but, in my case, it relates to another (relatively) recent thread and poll question about how much access we have to the products we document.
I have no access to our product and, hence, have very little interest in it. To me, access would probably make a great deal of difference in the interest and enjoyment I take from my job, not to mention technical knowledge?-especially as a fairly new tech writer. I *have* enjoyed learning the tools of our craft, and I?ve also enjoyed writing about the software that runs our products. I have total access to that and know it inside and out, with the important exception of seeing how it changes the actual product. Fortunately, the SMEs here are terrific when it comes to any questions I might have, and reading the previous documentation gives me some idea of what I?m doing.
As for Bruce?s thought about spending so many hours of life at something one isn?t interested in, I agree; it is sad. Next time I look for work, in the interview I?m going to ask how about how much direct access to the product I will have. Nothing beats first hand knowledge to gain both interest and expertise.
wel
<snip from Bruce Byfield>
I suggested this question as a result of the reoccuring discussions
about how much technical knowledge technical writers need.
It occurs to me that those who believe that as high a degree of
knowledge as possible should be sought might be more likely to answer
this question "Very" - that's certainly true of me, anyway. By contrast,
those who suggest that expert knowledge isn't necessary might tend to
answer "somewhat" or "not very." I'm looking forward to seeing whether
I'm right or wrong.
I also notice that, so far, over three-quarters of those who answered
would not follow their subjects on their own, and that almost half are
either "not very" or "not at all" interested.
I'm saddened to think that so many people are spending their lives at
work that they don't especially care for. However, more to the point, I
strongly suspect that the answers would be very different for
developers. At least a large minority of geeks are regularly increasing
their knowledge, and some even program in their spare time for open
source or free software projects. I wonder: could that be the reason
that so many tech-writers don't get along with their SMEs? Could the
geeks unconsciously sense the indifference to the topics that occupy
large chunkes of their lives?
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