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.
Editors and writers; was: Re: job title nomenclature on biz cards
Subject:Editors and writers; was: Re: job title nomenclature on biz cards From:David Neeley <dbneeley -at- oddpost -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 19 Aug 2004 12:35:18 -0700 (PDT)
"I have often seen job ads for "Editor" or "Writer." STC notwithstanding, I
have yet to see an ad for "Communicator."
-- Dan Goldstein"
In my experience, companies hire "technical editors" who are expected to check details--grammar, punctuation, page numbering, and the like--and little more. Thus, they are often considered less skilled than technical writers and are usually paid much less.
I believe this is somewhat wrong-headed. To me, it makes more sense to hire as an editor someone who is a very skilled technical writer and team leader, who can both handle the sorts of details necessary, but who can also serve to help educate the tech writers to follow the organizational style guides, to better organize their materials, and, in general, how to make their writing more effective and efficient. This would be much more the sort of "editor" that publishers employ.
In many organizations, from what I have experienced, there is seldom enough of this kind of ongoing quality check.
ROBOHELP X5: Featuring Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author
support, PDF and XML support and much more!
TRY IT TODAY at http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrl
WEBWORKS FINALDRAFT: New! Document review system for Word and FrameMaker
authors. Automatic browser-based drafts with unlimited reviewers. Full
online discussions -- no Web server needed! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -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.
