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I agree with Bruce on this one. Once you've shown you can walk the walk and
talk the talk, I found that engineers give at least grudging respect.
In other situations, where I have had to ramp up on an unfamiliar
technology, I've always found that engineers responded well to MY child-like
curiosity and fascination with what THEY'RE doing, which implies my respect
for them.
It also helps to sit at their lunch table and join in their reindeer games
(b-ball, fussball, nerf gun fights, etc.).
-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Byfield [mailto:bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com]
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2001 9:53 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Cc: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: Professional respect
Jo Francis Byrd wrote:
>
> Yes, I have dealt with the "what do you know, you're just a tech writer"
> mentality, usually from IT.
Recently, I've found that, as soon as I mention that I write articles
about Linux, I have no trouble being taken seriously. On hearing that,
people automatically assume that I am far more geeky than I really am,
and must be capable of learning other complicated material as well. To
tell the truth, I'm a little bemused by how quickly and how well this
tactic works.
If other writers don't know Linux, maybe they can get the same effect by
becoming familiar with either some hot technology, or something
perennial, such as security or networking.
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A landmark hotel, one of America's most beautiful cities, and
three and a half days of immersion in the state of the art:
IPCC 01, Oct. 24-27 in Santa Fe. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/
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