Re: credibility (longish but IMO worth reading)

[Andrew Plato <gilliankitty -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

"Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> wrote in message news:216028 -at- techwr-l -dot-  -dot-  -dot- 
>
> I don't know how many people on this list have had careers in
> other fields as well as technical writing, but having had a few
> over the course of my working life (drafter, design engineer,
> test engineer, product support engineer, tech writer, publications
> manager), I can tell you that these complaints apply to some
> extent to just about every one of them, not to mention all the
> occupations I've not had but have had acquaintances in.  This
> is pretty much a generic description of of life in the modern
> world, don't you think?

Yes it does. Everybody thinks their career/profession isn't respected. What is
funny is that respect isn't generally attributed to groups, but to
individuals. There are big problems with group-based respect/disrespect.
Because within every group of people there are a mixture of competent and
incompetent people. And I, for one, don't really appreciate it when a group of
morons benefits from my hard work. Its why most college group-projects are a
sham. One person busts ass because they want a good grade and the other people
just sit back and do nothing. Group projects allow morons to hold competent
people hostage. Hence, group-respect is a sham as well. 

The fact is most of the people who have made something of themselves did so
because they were tireless self-promoters. And the ones that actually go really
far backed up their tireless self-promotion with a little bit of skill and
expertise. The only person you can count on to have your best interests in mind
is YOU. 

That much said, the sigma of tech writing is the direct result of flooding the
profession with incompetent, non-technical people. There are just too many
font-fondling "I am a communicative artist" flakes in the profession. And this
is because there is simply not enough barriers to entry into tech writing.
There are too many "weekend certification" programs and "personal development
seminars" that tell incompetent, unqualified people they can be high-paid,
communicative artists if they just follow these five easy steps.

As for doing something about it - I did. I ignored all those stupid STC
meetings and the pedantic ramblings of other writers. I told my writers that
they need to be experts on their products or they could look for work
elsewhere. Those that had hissy fits, got fired. Those that adapted, excelled.
Its just that simple. Adapt or die. 

Furthermore, the answers are not in some professional society or here on
TECHWR-L. Credibility and respect are earned by individuals. Nothing I (or any
of us) say or do will help build other people's credibility.  You want
credibility  - EARN IT. Do what it takes to earn credibility. 

Andrew Plato 

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