Re: Seen the STC Survey on May 22? (Was: TC definition)

Subject: Re: Seen the STC Survey on May 22? (Was: TC definition)
From: "Bill Swallow" <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: "Michael West" <WestM -at- conwag -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 23:12:01 -0400

You're right, of course, but at the same time IT is a job function in
most software companies that is completely separate from software
development. That is fact, as is software development is a part of IT.
The problem is that those (like me) who have spent most if not all of
their professional career in software shops will not make that
association immediately. It's a matter of perception, and both
perceptions are correct.

By the same example, as a Help Author, I was considered a technical
writer in some of the companies I worked for and considered a software
developer in others. Was I technically a software developer or
technically a technical writer? And if either are valid, do both
generic job descriptions fit under the umbrella of technical
communication?

Food for thought. Perception is reality.

On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 11:00 PM, Michael West <WestM -at- conwag -dot- com> wrote:

> You seem to be using "IT" in some sort of narrow, local, departmental
> sense. If you look at Information Technology as an industry, like the
> Automobile Industry, or Mining, or Manufacturing, or Telecommunications
> (as is, I would guess, the sense in which the STC survey intended it to be
> understood), then a company that develops software is solidly in that
> industry.

--
Bill Swallow
HATT List Owner
WWP-Users List Owner
Senior Member STC, TechValley Chapter
STC Single-Sourcing SIG Manager
http://techcommdood.blogspot.com
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References:
Re: Seen the STC Survey on May 22? (Was: TC definition): From: Jay Maechtlen
Re: Seen the STC Survey on May 22? (Was: TC definition): From: Michael West

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