TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: What to look for in a technical editor From:Chris <cud -at- telecable -dot- es> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 23 May 2003 09:40:28 +0200
Plato says:
**********
The inverse, however, is not true for tech writers. Very few tech
writers have strong technical skills. Therefore they are operating from
a disadvantage. The engineer can do a tech writers job a lot easier than
a tech writer can do an engineer's job.
************
Now I see the crux of the biscuit, as it were... Andrew has just spent
too much time with non-technical tech writers. I have not had that
experience. The non-technical writers I have worked with stuck to
non-technical areas - or better yet, they were put on the tutorials
where they both learned the product and tested the viability of the
tutorial. But I consider myself a technical writer - funny thing is, I
make more money programming than writing these days. (Telecommute
writing in today's economic climate is a hard sell...) I know a number
of others who have made the same leap. And if you want to think in
terms of levels, at the level below us folks who turn into programmers
there are plenty of writers who become/are product specialists. They
tend to know more about the use and big picture than the developers,
become true user advocates, and even perform a valuable test function
because they verify their claims before commiting them to the manuals.
I guess I've been working outside of the real world for all these years.
Sure glad there's money out there...
--
Chris Despopoulos, maker of CudSpan Freeware...
Plugins to Enhance FrameMaker & FrameMaker+SGML http://www.telecable.es/personales/cud/
cud -at- telecable -dot- es
Robohelp X3, from eHelp, lets you quickly and easily create
professional Help systems for all your Windows and Web-based
applications, including Net.
Order RoboHelp X3 in May and receive a $100 mail-in rebate, PLUS
free RoboScreenCapture and WebHelp Merge Module.
Order RoboHelp today: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
