Non-technical technical writers

["Dana Worley (MVP/JB)" <dana -at- campbellsci -dot- com>]

I find it interesting that on a list of technical writers, there are 
many people who say they rate on a scale of 1 to 3 when it comes to 
being technically savvy. I further find interest in comments that boil 
down to "my company produces Android apps, but I have no desire to learn 
about Android". How can you write documentation that will be useful to 
your users if you have no experience with the technology?

I know technical takes on all forms, so perhaps many are technical in a 
particular field while being Luddites in most others, but it seems to me 
it would behoove any technical writer to try to be at least a little 
familiar with "technology".

It reminds me of a conversation I had with a woman a few months ago at a 
seminar. She introduced herself as a technology writer, but later told 
me she knew nothing about technology. I file that in the category of 
"things that make you go, 'huh'".

Dana

--
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Campbell Scientific, Inc.
Product Manager, Software Products
*************************************
Microsoft Help MVP 2002-2012
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Jester's Baubles Fused Glass Designs
http://www.jestersbaubles.com
http://jestersbaubles.blogspot.com

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