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> Question: If you were looking at hiring a TW and saw they were a member
of
> STC, would that be a mark against them in your mind? Would that be a
negative?
> (Assuming the rest of the resume fits your needs and has the required
> experience for the position in question.)
It might. It would depend on many factors. One of the people in my office
is an STC member, but he is also a brilliant writer who understands that
content comes first.
People always ask me why I hate STC so much...I don't hate it, I just
don't find it very relevant. STC (based on their magazines, seminars, and
general tone of everything they produce) caters to non-technical,
non-writers. People who spend their career formatting and reorganizing
OTHER people's work.
I am a tech writer because I like to write and I like technology. I like
learning how stuff works and then explaining that to other people. I could
care less about career development, style guides, single-sourcing, or all
the other insidious one-off work that STC champions.
And as for networking...I prefer to network with real decision makers by
going to technology oriented seminars and meetings. For example, I go to
security seminars like SANS where I meet engineers and executives who are
involved in the technologies I find interesting. These people have
considerably more influence at their respective firms than tech pubs
managers or other tech writers. And as such, I get way more offers to
document their products (usually because the internal tech pubs people are
too busy going to STC seminars!)
I could go on and on about my frustrations with STC, but I won't.
Basically, I see myself as a technical, technical writer. I hire
technical, technical writers. I sell this service to clients who pay us
for the tremendous amount of technical expertise we contribute to their
technical manuals. I don't care if somebody is a blood worshiping atomic
dust kitten - as long as they show up for work, learn the technology, and
deliver top-quality technical insight to our customers (and they had
better tolerate me dancing around my office to New Order).
Andrew Plato
Oh you've got blue eyes, oh you've got green eyes, oh you've got gray
eyes...and I've never met anyone quite like you before.
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