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.
Regarding dress code, etc.: When any of us show up at work wearing a suit, our
coworkers assume we have a job interview at lunch. We have a lot of freedom as
far as what we can wear; shorts can be worn on weekends only. Most of the
engineers wear jeans with T-shirts or polo shirts. In general, when the tech
writers dress like the engineers, we tend to get a bit more respect; when we
dress up, the engineers associate us with the marketeers, who they respect
even less than tech writers. :) As for the other aspects, we can have photos,
posters, plants, and the like; we can listen to radios, CD players, etc. as
long as we use headphones; and no, we don't punch a time clock (although our
contract writers must keep time cards). It isn't paradise, but as far as the
working conditions go, it's comfortable. (No, Paula, you're not naive; your
situation is definitely far less than ideal. And, the systems advice that
you've been receiving is good.)
Regarding ITCC: I liked about half of the sessions that I attended. The others
either didn't match their descriptions or were presented by people with poor
presentation skills. (Or maybe I need to attend a session that teaches me how
to read the descriptions of the sessions!) I agree that the best part of the
conference is not necessarily the sessions but meeting with other communi-
cators. One thing that disappointed me was that I heard several presenters
misrepresent features of some publishing tools. For example, I heard
FrameBuilder described as a good SGML tool. All in all, though, the conference
was definitely worthwhile.
Pam Tatge
Member, Group Technical Staff
Texas Instruments Semiconductor Group, Houston
pamt -at- steinbeck -dot- sc -dot- ti -dot- com
