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Subject:Re: Jobs Future for Technical Communication From:"USA::MU17692" <MU17692%USA -dot- decnet -at- USAV01 -dot- GLAXO -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 1 Dec 1994 10:12:00 EST
Rick Lippincott wrote:
>Contractors and temps are a hot thing in the industry right now.
>There have always been contract workers, there always will be. But
>I think the increased use -right now- has quite a bit of "fad" written
>all over it. The pendulum will swing back, the idea will lose
>popularity, and in a few years we'll be seeing published articles
>saying "Contractors? What a lousy idea. We sure know better -now-."
>Then, some -more- years down the road, the pendulum will swing back
>again, and the use of contractors will cycle back up.
If and when the pendulum begins to swing back, I want technical
communicators to be ready. That will be our chance to improve our
professional standing.
I suspect, however, that because of improved personal computers and
connecting hardware and software, the pendulum will come crashing
down rather than swing back. Not only do we have these better tools,
but as *we* know better than most, improved _document_ design has
increased our ability to learn new things and adapt to rapdily
changing circumstances. Perhaps, writing "document design" oversimplifies
the whole matter too much. The documents are not only better
designed, but the media in which they are delivered is vastly improved.
"The media is the message" now carries more significance than ever.
-Mike Uhl (uhl~m -at- glaxo -dot- com)
Glaxo Inc. Research Institute
Research Triangle Park, NC
