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Subject:RE: What a predicament! From:"Ehr, Meg" <Meg -dot- Ehr -at- smartworks -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 1 Mar 2002 17:13:57 -0500
Christine Anameier suggested that our pal Anonymous (#1):
"has a strong drive to do the job right and balks at doing something he/she
considers wrong. Changing fields won't change that. Anonymous may run into
the same problem in another field."
Ah, yes, but sometimes the field *is* the problem!
Tech writing was not my intended field when I was in school. I spent a lot
of time, money, and energy getting into my chosen field, but found myself in
a position that made me feel I had to compromise my professional integrity.
It burned me out completely, and I left the field altogether. I don't regret
leaving, even after all the years I "wasted" getting there. I was able to
see that the way things worked in that field were quite different from the
way I *thought* they should work (somehow, they never teach you these things
in school...), and the real problem was my inability to accept that reality.
(Note that I was *not* dealing with *illegal* activities.) At one point, I
considered returning to that field, but just reading a discussion list for a
few weeks was enough to cure me of that urge.
It may well be that Anon just can't abide the personal compromises necessary
for him/her to stay in TW (and realize that what might not seem like much of
a compromise to one person could be devastating to someone else). There's
nothing inherently wrong with that. What's wrong is staying in a job or
field that makes you miserable because you're "supposed" to, or because you
think things in the field are "supposed" to be different. Had I stayed in my
original field, I'd probably still be bitterly unhappy. Granted, the title I
gave up would have sounded better at my high school reunion than "Oh, I'm
temping right now," but in the end, jumping fields is sometimes the only
right choice for someone.
Meg Ehr
Happily not temping
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