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Subject:Re: observation of tech writer status From:Andrew Plato <gilliankitty -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 1 Nov 2002 13:16:17 -0800 (PST)
> I don't have deep knowledge that would let me debug
> our designers' code, nor do I have the depth of
> knowledge that would make me welcome in a brainstorming
> meeting with our CTO and senior designers. I'll never
> give a presentation at the RSA conference, on the
> next mathematical wave in cryptographic theory... :-)
Again, Kevin you're taking this to an extreme. Nobody has asked that you become
an expert. The expectation is to have strong working knowledge of the technology,
its use, value, etc. If you can't even offer that - then how can you ever expect
to author instructions with any degree of authority?
> If that means I'd never make it in Andrew's company,
> well I'll remember not to apply there and waste his
> time or mine. If it came to the choice between getting
> paid to install/configure/secure networks or to write
> the instructions that let other people do it efficiently
> and confidently, I prefer the latter.
Again, you're missing the point by concentrating on the extreme.
The real question is - how can a reader trust you to write accurate and
meaningful instructions on how to install/configure/secure networks if you do not
understand how to install/configure/secure networks with some degree of
proficiency?
More specifically - how can you teach somebody to do something, if you don't
understand it yourself?
Andrew Plato
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