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Subject:Taking off the blinders From:SuePStewrt -at- AOL -dot- COM Date:Sat, 29 Apr 1995 03:34:57 -0400
>>Statement One --
Without Engineers and (today) Programmers, there would be no work for
Tech Writers.<<
Burst of laughter!! Trust me, there are hundreds of technical communicators
who make good livings without ever encountering either an engineer or a
programmer. Take off the blinders, and look at the technical communicators
teaching people to fill out forms, documenting medical techniques, building
decision trees for functions such as credit granting, and on and on and on.
Without programmers and engineers, the world would need far MORE technical
communicators to help explain how to get non-mechanical, non-digital things
done.
Check your history, and you'll find that technical writing, in the form of
instructional texts, predates engineering by quite a long shot.
Not that I want to do without engineers, or programmers, or any of the other
skillful people who make life easier (if sometimes rather complicated). I
just try to help folks get the most out of what those engineers/programmers
develop.
