Re: Re: Re: Senior Technical Writer

["Robert B. Kennedy" <textexcellence -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

Peter,

I'd like to offer a different perspective: namely,
cultural. When I lived and worked in Germany
(91-96, Wuerzburg Tour), German business people
use to joke about how easily Americans don
the title "Manager." Americans know it's not 
uncommon to find unseasoned financial consultants 
named "Vice President."

Unlike European cultures, we do not have a centuries-
long tradition of titles, hence we affix them rather
casually. European titles stem from
lucky genealogies or long-established traditions
like the German "Meister" worker, which to this
day requires years of training (my wife's father
was a "Meister" Bookbinder... six years to
learn how to mend books{!}).

Add this casual attitude the rather amorphous
skill of technical writing, with its broad range
of specialties and lack of formal training, and 
voila! Instant status. Most Americans are accustomed
to this casual inflation of one's importance because
it is so widespread... whereas it can easily offend
the European sense of propriety.

PS: I can't speak for the Canadians...

Best,

Bobby



-----Original Message-----
From: pkingston -at- nomadsoft -dot- co -dot- uk [mailto:pkingston -at- nomadsoft -dot- co -dot- uk]
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2001 8:21 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: Senior Technical Writer



Is it just my impression, or do North American Hi-Tech workers seem to
attach a large amount of importance to their job titles?

My experience of working in the UK has been the opposite. I'd be 
interested in any comments, offline if appropriate.



Peter Kingston

Technical Author
Nomad Software
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7292 2413
e-mail:  pkingston -at- nomadsoft -dot- co -dot- uk




=====
Robert B. Kennedy, Technical Writer
TEXT EXCELLENCE, INC.
Trenton Business & Technology Center
36 South Broad St.
Trenton, NJ 08608
TEL: 609-989-5999
robert -dot- kennedy -at- textexcellence -dot- com

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