TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
I wonder if people who train for it formally are any happier BEING it, than those of us who fell into it.
I know what I can do, and how I got here, and I ain't no professional. At least, not like an engineer, lawyer, doctor, or ship-captain that answers to a governing body.
I'd say that I'm the rough equivalent of a journeyman trades-person, who has never bothered to go for his Master Ticket, because it wasn't worth it. Or I didn't have the opportunity to work all the required venues (like a welder who can do machine construction and repair and maybe pipeline, but who never had the chance to do underwater welding because of location, and an unwillingness to uproot his family to start over in a maritime locale.
Or, in our case, the credentials and formal qualifications grew up when we were already doing the job. Almost nobody was offering any kind of TW degree or diploma or even certificate in the mid-eighties and nineties.
I was always a decent descriptive and expository writer, technically curious, and able to explain things to others, but I didn't even think of techwriting until I'd been doing other schooling and other jobs for many years.
Only then did I discover that it was a good fit... or that I was.
Most days, I still kinda enjoy going to work... well, not so much the levering myself out of bed at crow-fart aspect, but the milieu once I get there (I'm rarely the smartest person in the room), the co-workers (as people), the job. That contrasts with stuff I did before I fell into techwriting.
Ours is a delightfully fluid trade/profession/career.
Here's a question for you: How would you describe the occupation of technical writing, as a trade, career, profession, or all three?
There's an idea out there that it isn't a profession, because people tend to fall into it.
~~Craig
-----Original Message-----
From: McLauchlan, Kevin [mailto:Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2014 3:47 PM
To: Cardimon, Craig; 'Brian -dot- Henderson -at- mitchell1 -dot- com'; 'techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com'
Subject: RE: ghost town
Not about the function of the site.
Never look a gift-/h/o/r/s/e/.... er... site in the mouth.
Maybe a smidgen about how every conversation has come around at least 8 times before, since the list started. Some much more frequently than that. And somebody is always happy to point it out... sometimes I'm the somebody. :0
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+ccardimon=m-s-g -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+ccardimon=m-s-g -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of McLauchlan, Kevin
Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2014 3:35 PM
To: Brian -dot- Henderson -at- mitchell1 -dot- com; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: ghost town
Or, maybe the archive on the site is now so perfectly searchable that it answers all questions and there's nothing new under the techwriter-ish sun.
Cool.
-----Original Message-----
From: Brian -dot- Henderson -at- mitchell1 -dot- com [mailto:Brian -dot- Henderson -at- mitchell1 -dot- com]
Sent: February-12-14 3:28 PM
To: McLauchlan, Kevin; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: ghost town
Sounds like somebody doesn't have any actual WORK to do.
-BrianH.
-----Original Message----- From: Kevin McLauchlan
Do I have to ask another really dumb question, to stir up some life in here?
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