RE: Tech Writer Lawsuit

["Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>]

Ned Bedinger wrote:
 
> An engineer's view, to be sure. Engineers have the comfort and
security
> of a Profession that recognizes academic preparations for a career in
> engineering, and has gatekeeper functions to unambiguously certify
> Professional engineers. That is one benefit of choosing a career that
> works with hard data, algorithms, material, etc.

I've worked with software engineers for 20 years, some of them highly
skilled (and highly paid) people holding multiple patents and doing
cutting-edge stuff. In all that time, I don't think I've ever met a
certified Professional Engineer. If any of them was one, they never made
a point of it. Their professional standing, pay, and sense of self-worth
didn't come from a certificate or credential. 
 
> The only resolution to our disparate viewpoint seems to be that tech
> writers ought to study engineering if they want to be peers of the
> Professionals they work with. This other solution, where tech writers
> have to shut up and do whatever micro-managed thing they're told if
they
> want to be treated as professionals, is blackmail, and a particularly
> perverted form of blackmail at that.

I didn't study engineering. I didn't even study English or Journalism;
my degree is in Economics, and I fell into this profession. But I've
earned my stripes, am treated as a professional, am not micro-managed,
and rarely shut up. My professional standing, pay, and sense of
self-worth didn't come from a certificate or credential.

Granted, it's anecdotal evidence, but it suggests that, in the right
environment, other resolutions are possible. I hope you can find one. 

Richard


Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
------






 

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