Re: Arrogance (Was single spacing...)

[eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com]

bounce-techwr-l-106467 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com wrote on 05/12/2004 01:56:17 PM:
> If you not interested in a topic, ignore it, but don't 
> belittle people who are trying to help or who do care about it.

Perhaps the issue should simply ignored as "outside my interest". But as a 
professional technical writer I have to wonder why anyone should care as 
much as some seem to and how the discussion reflects on the profession at 
large.

If I was a hiring manager that was looking to hire a writer for the first 
time and went to Techwr-l to see what technical writing was all about, the 
sheer volume of discussion on an issue that has absolutely NO technical 
significance would make me wonder if this is the breed of employee I want 
on staff. Personally, my reaction might be "To hell with this. I'm sure 
one of the engineers can write well enough."

Personally I can't stand double spaces. Why? Part of it is as emotional 
and unfounded as is most of what the topic raises every time someone kicks 
up the dust that once, long ago, was a dead horse. The other part, is that 
given all the acronyms, standards, and technical details that are 
infinitely more important to convey to my audience and the speed at which 
they must be delivered it is far easier and expedient to type with only 
one space and then to search and destroy ALL multiple spaces to eliminate 
all errors and ensure uniform formatting after sentences.

Perhaps that's what would turn me off from hiring someone that uses double 
spaces to begin with (the original question was it not?). They might get 
more excited discussing the writing side of their job at the expense of 
the technical. While XML, SOX, hydraulics, pneumatics, or networking 
widgets may be outside a particular writers interest/industry, THOSE are 
the skills that when learned are likely to garner more job security and 
better remuneration as a technical writer. If those technologies are 
within your industry, you're a poor technical writer if they don't attract 
your attention. If they aren't in your industry, you should be at least 
keeping abreast of what might be valuable should you wish to change 
industries. I would think that in any job interview, and then later in the 
job, the PRIMARY issue and focus should be interest in the technology 
and/or product to be documented. Not to say design isn't important, but it 
is low on the list.

Even tool questions are more relevant to the average technical writer. The 
answers may enable me to work faster and more efficiently or allow me to 
add more value to my documents by better using features in my toolset. 
Fonts, design, and layout are all important to the overall picture but you 
can have one designer to an entire army of writers. Grammar and spaces etc 
may also be important, but you can have one editor to an army of writers. 
And in either case, you have to prove that ROI for the designer or editor 
is worth the value added, or more importantly that if the technical 
details are presented correctly if the missing value of not having 
professional editing and design are hurting sales or increasing liability.

When the time for cuts comes, I'd rather be known as the writer with great 
product knowledge, industry awareness, and other technology know-how 
(whether the technology I document or the technology I use to generate and 
maintain the documents).

If an employer was to judge and reject a writer based on the absence or 
presence of double spaces it's an employer that I don't think many would 
like to work for. I'd think it was the information and details that was 
between the spaces that would be of far more interest. If a writer has 
more to say when asked about double spacing than "That's my preferred 
personal style, but either way is fine." that's a writer I'd stay away 
from.

Eric L. Dunn
Senior Technical Writer

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