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It looks like my previous post got lost in sendmail somewhere, so I'm
posting again. Apologies if this pops up twice.
Lauren
> From: Jim Barrow
> Seriously, I don't think I had ever heard of that title
> outside of being creative on my business card. But, lo and
> behold, it's a real job category.
I think the title has been around for awhile and there were lengthy
discussions about it on this forum. <Search the archives. :-> > <--That's a
joke y'know.
> When I asked the recruiter to describe the duties and
> responsibilities associated with the job I was surprised -
> they matched what I am currently doing at my present job.
> When she mentioned the pay rate, I fell over - it was 30%
> more than what I am getting now.
The forum has discussed this topic before in assorted threads, if I remember
correctly, but I could be hallucinating. One thread discussed the whether
the role of technical writer was a part of a larger role of information
architect, but the consensus eventually concluded (or the topic died) with
conclusion that the two roles were distinct and unique, but with overlap.
Other threads have discussed overlap between business analysis and technical
writing. One thread discussed the career path for a technical writer and
what kinds of jobs can proceed from technical writing. Future jobs provide
a host of possibilities that included information architect. Although, most
jobs require education or experience in addition to technical writing.
We have also discussed relative pay between positions and most positions pay
more than technical writer, although I've seen some very low paying business
analyst positions. My view and some of the consensus from the forum is that
technical writing requires skills from multiple positions, although being a
technical writer does not fully qualify someone for another position. My
theory, as a contractor, is that recruiters may have a BA, IA, or project
support position that could warrant the hiring of a person with a
specialized role for those positions, but the employer will advertise the
position as a technical writer with some additional duties in order to get a
lower rate.
> Has anyone here worked as or with an information architect?
> Is my assessment of the job title accurate? Is this
> something that technical writers could move into without too
> much of a learning curve?
You can move into any position without much of a learning curve if you know
enough about how to perform the other position. I think that the role of
technical writer is broad and varied, so a technical writer from one arena,
like medical equipment, may not move as gracefully into systems analysis <or
whatever> as a technical writer in IT would.
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