Re: Senior technical writer?

["Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>]

There are other reasons besides "tech writing experience" that can
contribute to the decision to promote someone to a "senior" or
"document management" position.  The ability to drive a project to 
completion within spec and budget and on schedule (even if it does 
not quite meet the latest and greatest "technical communications 
concepts"), the business and technical acumen to be able to scope 
out products in development and set priorities based on real-world 
observations (as opposed to the pie-in-the-sky status messages that 
often emanate from product management) and the ability and 
willingness to assist and mentor less experienced contributors can 
often boost your value to organization as much as or more than the 
narrowly focused skills commonly touted as being "technical 
writing experience."  Offhand, I would guess that 80% of the 
people on this list could "write" rings around me in a side-by-side
comparison of our hands-on abilities in grammar, composition,
editing and tools.  I base that on the fact that about that percentage 
of the writers I hire usually can.

Gene Kim-Eng


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Claire Conant" <Claire -dot- Conant -at- Digeo -dot- com>

Well, the case I was citing specifically, the writer did * not * have
the relevant experience but was promoted anyway. It happens. Often.



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help 
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content 
delivery. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Easily create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to any popular Help file format or printed documentation. Learn more at http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- infoinfocus -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40infoinfocus.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.