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Goober Writer wrote:
> If someone with your skills and know-how needs to
> trade money for credibility, then there is something
> tragically wrong with our profession.
There is. We have been venting about it for years on this very list.
Employers either neglect documentation work or hold it in active contempt.
Employers don't understand documentation work, and documentation doesn't
appear on their radar screen unless painfully forced by a customer. Rational
business priorities, or pathological arrogance? After all this time I still
don't know. Depends on the employer, I guess.
Tech managers have invested much time into learning about coding practices
and development methodologies. But they haven't invested similar time into
learning about documentation; it's just considered a no-brainer. This seems
really odd, since in the CS curriculum your teacher won't even accept your
project unless it is documented. But in the business world, projects go
undocumented all the time. I guess the CS training didn't stick.
Many of us have done our part by acquiring skills and know-how. But our
skills are, for the most part, rightly or wrongly, considered simple
commodities. If your trash-hauling service suddenly started hiring only
garbagemen with PhDs in sanitation, would you pay more for the service? Even
if the cost were the same, I'd probably stick with the blue-collar guys for
their real-world experience.
> You would think
> that the STC, IEEE, and other organizations would
> showcase people with such demonstrated abilities and
> excellence in the field OUTSIDE of their "closed
> community".
They do. It just doesn't generate much buzz outside the closed community.
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