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Subject:Re: Big bucks in tech writing From:"Damien Braniff" <DBraniff -at- amphion -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 23 Oct 2002 08:26:23 +0100
>How many people are content with being a technical writer? Do people see
>themselves as being tech-writers for the rest of their working lives? Or
>do they hope to move into another field or into management? If they do
>plan to move away from technical writing, what do they plan to do next?
>Ultimately?
I think that the answer to this is, at least in part, about priorities - the old question of live to work or work to live. I'm definitely in the latter category - I work for money to pay the bills with enough over to allow me to do the things I enjoy doing. I'm lucky in that I enjoy what I do, a big bonus. I know quite a number of people who make a lot more money than I do but never seem to get the time to enjoy the proceeds. Over the years I've run small teams, managed projects etc but more often than not the compensation wasn't worth the extra hassle and the challenge is relatively short-lived. When I was younger I did my share of long hours (always paid) only to see the tax-man grab a large chunk of it. Now I'm older and wiser and I'm a 9:00 to 5:00 man (OK 8:00 to 4:00). I still put in extra hours when needed but, with good planning, that's not too often but I've the time to spend with my family and pursuing other interests.
Culturally there's this big push to succeed, to keep getting better and better which is fine, but a balance is needed and this is too often missing. With the advent of technology the promise was that this would cut down on work hours giving everyone more leisure time but I, for one, haven't seen it. All it meant was that more could be done for less making people redundant and more profits for companies. This loss of balance is highlighted when you hear companies issue dire warning of dropping profits. When you look at it, they're not losing money, it's simply that they're not making as much money as they did last year.
I'm all in favour of making money but I don't see it as some holy grail - as long as I've enough I'm happy. Everyone has their own definition of 'enough' and we need to balance that against the other things that are important to us.
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