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>All CTOs and most of the programmers I've met till now keep on saying that
>only a programmer can produce documentation for programmers. As you can
>imagine, I've tried convincing them by defining more precisely what a
>technical writer is and what it can bring to such projects.
>Still, they think it would be too expensive to train a technical writer so
>that he/she can become independent enough to document APIs. The result is
>they would not even let any chance to this idea. The only thing they agree
>with is that the technical writer can proofread the documentation to put it
>in proper English.
That's pretty much the situation I'm in. As sole technical writer <stitch> I
write the end-user documentation, the internal documentation, and I
proofread/edit the Javadoc. I don't do all of the internal stuff or the
Javadoc, but I'm pushing to do more of it, because it all links together.
>I do not like the idea of tech writer being only a proofreader. The
>technical writer can also bring his/her skills on documentation structure
>and information management.
I'm not a programmer. I doubt if I ever will be, and it's not the work I
want to do. I've been working on the Javadoc for our APIs now for three
months or so - I moved into it because my manager noticed the good job I did
making the comments in our example code in the user manual thorough,
detailed, and literate <g> - and while I recognise the reason that they want
me to do it is because I'm a good proofreader (I've even occasionally been
known to spot coding errors, though I have a specific agreement that I don't
myself alter ANYTHING except the comments), the reason *I* want to do it is
because the net effect of reading through what my end-users will be using
means that I learn more about the product. It's not exciting. In fact, it's
hellishly dull, and on days when I'm doing nothing but that I find myself
taking frequent breaks to see if there's anything interesting being
discussed on a mailing list. But it's *useful*.
>Any resources and ideas are welcome!
There's the nettechwriters Yahoo group
<nettechwriters-subscribe -at- yahoogroups -dot- com> It's not been very lively lately,
but it's there.
Jane Carnall
Technical Writer, Digital Bridges, Scotland
Unless stated otherwise, these opinions are mine, and mine alone. Apologies
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