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Subject:RE: A suspected can of worms - knowing the future From:"Korth, Deanna" <deanna -dot- korth -at- dmpinc -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 26 Jun 2003 12:56:09 -0500
John Posada wrote:
"This an other posts are going on the premise that with the right
education, you can be a good technical writer who wants to be a
technical writer.
I disagree. You need a specific mindset. I guess this boils down to
technical writers are born, not made."
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I completely agree, and I think that theory can be applied to other
occupations as well.
When I was a seamstress/stay-at-home mom, I discovered that there were
two completely different mindsets in that field. I sewed for interior
designers. The designer would provide me with measurements, fabric, and
a drawing of what she expected the finished product to look like. I had
a technical mindset. My approach was to use the measurements, make the
necessary calculations, and put together the product. It was a
mathematical process to me.
I can't even begin to do clothing alterations. People's body's are not
symmetrical, and there is a certain amount of creativity involved in
making an article of clothing fit properly.
I learned to sew from my mom who was a tailor/stay-at-home mom when I
was a kid. She's great at alterations, but she can't make a pillow or
window treatment without a pattern to save her life because it requires
that mathematical mindset.
Like I said, she was my teacher, and yet, in the end, neither of us can
sew what the other can. I propose that our inborn mindset is the culprit
in the situation.
Really, it's the same thing that John is saying, applied to another
field.
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