RE: Yahoo has no staff tech writers

["Grant, Christopher" <CGrant -at- glhec -dot- org>]

> As always, Andrew shows his complete lack of respect for his 
> own profession and for the other technical writers out there.

There are others who share this lack of respect.  It's serious business:
luser TWs dilute the wage-earning potential of our profession.  IMHO, and in
my experience, (not anyone else's) the profession NEEDS a kick in the rear
to avoid becoming useless.  Please don't mistake this as a sweeping
generalization: I'm referring to my own personal experience, which closely
matches Andrew's characterization of the field.  YMMV, and probably will.

> I'm not diminishing his experience: he's obviously been 
> burned by writers in the past, but to make the sweeping 
> generalization that most TW's are unwilling to learn their 
> field is simply incorrect.

Unfair, perhaps, but I cannot agree that it is incorrect, because based on
my experience, it is.  I'm not quite as cynical and I my experience is
certainly limited (about 4 years in the field) so I leave the door open, but
so far, my _own_ experience matches what Andrew is saying.  

> I think the main problem Andrew has had is that he has 
> encountered writers who are fairly fresh out of academia. 
> Yes, these people *don't* necessarily realize what the 
> technical writing profession is in reality, simply because 
> most TW programs stress writing and tools over technology. 

Or writing and tools over basic problem-solving abilities, which - as an
individual "fairly" fresh out of academia, has benefitted me in the field
actually even slightly more than my (fairly extensive) experience with the
technology I write about.  

> But, then, how can these programs stress technology? 
> Especially since "technology" is so varied - can you really 
> cover writing for engineering, networking, academics, 
> manufacturing, software development, marketing, and the 
> myriad of other fields tech writers support? Should tech 
> writing programs *require* a double major - one in 
> English/communications and the other in something technical? 

Exactly why the program should NOT stress technology, OR tools, but rather
problem-solving skills.  Exactly for the reason you said - there's no way to
anticipate what field you may wind up in.  I was lucky that I fell into a
field I had technical experience in, but even if I hadn't, it's the
problem-solving skills I learned in college that would get me through.  Of
course there are exceptions in extremely specialized fields.

> You also have to remember that most universities are not 
> built on the same philosophy that the general population 
> uses. People want training for jobs, but schools want to give 
> people an education.

Good point - and this calls for the type of pragmatism that Andrew called
for in his post.  :)  You can take the theories you learned at college to
work, but you better be ready to use that knowledge pragmatically, not
dogmatically. 

> The reality of technical writing is threefold:
> 
> 1. Technical knowledge (but not necessarily technical mastery)
> 2. Tools knowledge
> 3. Writing ability

I disagree:

1. Problem solving ability.
2. Technical ability (to achieve near-mastery).
3. Writing ability.
4. Tools ability.

Tech knowledge, tools knowledge, and writing ability all will fail unless
you know how to weild them appropriately.

Chris Grant



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