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.
Subject:Re: Good Job Description From:Gregory Keith <GKeith -at- DELRINA -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 9 Jun 1995 14:15:00 PDT
>From: TECHWR-L
>To: Multiple recipients of list TECHWR-L
>Date: June 9, 1995 08:42
>At our company, we are having a difficult job explaining our duties and
>responsibilities as technical communicators. I was wondering if we could
get
>some generic job descriptions from you at different companies.
_____________________
One of the best answers I've seen on this topic is the following;
As a professional technical communicator, only a small part of my
day-to-day work involves formal writing. As a consultant who has
cleaned up messes left by "technical writers" I have learned
to appreciate skills such as document management, computer systems
management, and general organizational abilities. Other important
skills include the ability *and will* to
- proficiently interview SMEs
- learn and deal with relevant political situations
in your working environment
- conduct research, e.g. use libraries, e-mail,
Internet, etc.
- learn new skills and garner new knowledge, even
that which is not immediately relevant to the work
at hand but which is indirectly related and has a
high probability of becoming immediately relevant,
e.g. HTML, SGML
- maintain good professional relationships with
colleagues and co-workers
- work with enthusiasm
- strive for the highest quality products
- invest in your own technology infrastructure. By
this I mean, spend money to purchase computer and
telecommunications equipment for use at home. This
frees you from dependency on an employer and the
conflicts of interest and other ethical issues
that arise when you use an employer's equipment for
purposes other than the work you are assigned. You
also tend to learn a lot more about modern technologies
when you've made a personal investment.
Excellent technical communicators are designers, builders, maintainers,
and managers of communication products. Communication products include
documents, multimedia presentations, WWW pages, stand-up presentations,
training packages, and so on. Substituting "Communicator" or some other
term for the word "Writer" benefits the profession. I suspect that is
why the Society for Technical Communication is not named the "Society
for Technical Writers and Illustrators."
-Mike
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Andrew Uhl Internet: uhl -at- vislab -dot- epa -dot- gov
Lead Technical Writer Compuserve: 72624,2155
Scientific Visualization Center (SVC) & Phone: (919) 541-4283 [W]
National Environmental Fax: (919) 361-9464 [H]
Supercomputing Center (NESC) ftp site: ftp.nesc.epa.gov
EPA/Martin Marietta Technical Services Inc.
79 Alexander Drive MD 24/4201-2
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
***********************************************************************
Greg
Gregory Keith
Documentation Specialist
Delrina Canada
gkeith -at- delrina -dot- com
"Our minds are porous and forgetfulness seeps in: I myself am distorting and
losing, under the wearing away of the years, the face of Beatriz."
Jorge Luis Borges, The Aleph
