Re: What's a "documentation specialist," as opposed to a writer?

["Mike McCallister" <workingwriter -at- gmail -dot- com>]

My first job in the field was as a Documentation Specialist for a software
startup. I don't think management overthought the title, but I assumed they
gave me this title because I wrote manuals for print and developed online
help. I still select it in the STC title survey, in part because I associate
the title with software docs (which I really love doing). Now I learn
through this thread that maybe my associations are limited.

All titles are malleable, and mean different things to different employers.


Mike McCallister
Technical Writing Consultant, Compuware
Author, "openSUSE Linux Unleashed" -- at bookstores now!
Notes from the Metaverse: http://metaverse.wordpress.com


On Mon, Dec 22, 2008 at 8:07 AM, Downing, David <DavidDowning -at- users -dot- com>wrote:

> I was filling out my STC renewal form last night, and in the spot where
> you could list all your specializations, there was a choice for
> "Documentation specialist," along with the one for writer. But what
> exactly is a documentation specialist, if not a writer? Would that be
> someone who's a guru in the area of document design, as opposed to
> document content?
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