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Subject:Re: A dark take on Tech Writing...do you agree? From:"Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> To:"CL T" <straylightsghost -at- gmail -dot- com>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 4 Nov 2008 10:02:04 -0800
To a certain extent, yes. The practical, nuts-and-bolts
aspects of the process - setting document goals,
balancing time and resources, meeting deadlines,
handling interactions with busy and possibly less
than enthusiastic coworkers - all are spot-on.
Welcome to the real world after graduation. I had
every single one of these to contend with during
the 15+ years of my previous career as an engineer.
The process is called "product development," and it's
what produces technical things that need to be written
about. You want to write and not have to deal with
them? Try writing one of these instead:
Just be sure to stay away from romance novels or
writing for television, as I'm told both are a lot like
technical writing. :)
As for the more "career oriented" aspects of this, in
the industries I've worked in, technical writing was
*never* a "skilled IT field." It has always been, and
remains to this day. an *engineering* field. Yes, I
occasionally write an internal document that instructs
people how to use some IT-related process or system,
but my primary work involves developing product and
getting it out the door and into the hands of paying
customers.
"Technical writers" are indeed "a dime a dozen."
*Good* technical writers, who understand the role
of effective, on-time product documentation in
supporting profitable product development and
support processes, are as scarce as hen's teeth.
Yes, I often hire "technical writers" on a project
basis and wave goodbye when they've finished
a project (assuming they make it that far), but
when I find a *good* technical writer, I funnel as
much work as possible to him/her until I can justify
a fulltime hire.
Yes, nobody is promoted to upper management
for being a good tech writer. Nobody is promoted
to upper management for being a good engineer,
either. You get promoted to upper management
for being good at lower and middle management,
and you get good at those by learning to manage
anything and everything.
Everybody's career is "a succession of jobs."
The writer of this sounds to me like someone
whose dad spent 40 years working on one
company's assembly line somewhere, and
thinks it ought to be possible to have a similar
career but with more advancement by writing.
If you want to make a life in technical writing
and advance in it, you must embrace the
process - *all* of the process, from beginning
to end, including the constant reaching out for
new things to add to it. If you think the process
is "writing," and see everything else that has to be
done as just a distraction or burden added to writing,
then this "dark take" on technical writing is correct.
Get out of the field. Get out as fast as possible.
Preferably before your resume reaches my desk.
Gene Kim-Eng
----- Original Message -----
From: "CL T" <straylightsghost -at- gmail -dot- com>
>http://cli.gs/76aTnG
>
> The opinion of one Tech Writer and their advice to aspiring TW's. Do
> you
> agree with this dark take on our career?
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