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Subject:Re: Information Engineer From:Tami Goodall <tamig -at- MOSAIX -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 30 May 1997 23:39:49 -0700
exactly how old are you?
>----------
>From: Daniel Wise[SMTP:dewise -at- IX -dot- NETCOM -dot- COM]
>Sent: Friday, May 30, 1997 11:37 PM
>To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
>Subject: Re: Information Engineer
>
>Colleagues,
>
>In many companies (maybe not in the 'puter industry) the title *engineer*
>cannot be used unless the person holds a degree in a recognized field of
>engineering from an accredited engineering school. In certain legal senses,
>the title cannot be used unless the individual is a registered professional
>engineer. Where does that leave us technical writers.
>
>I have always viewed documentation specialists, information engineers, etc.,
>as subsets of technical writer (or communicator). We may be working with
>media other than papayrus scrolls and parchment, but essentially we still
>perform the same tasks we have always performed. We write, we edit, we
>proofread (oh really?), we design, we coordinate, we supervise support
>personnel, we produce, we publish, we cuss and swear when all else fails.
>Whether we chisel in stone or inscribe on an electronic disc, we still do
>these things.
>
>Whether we document software, write procedures for hardware, create Web
>pages, document engineering designs, prepare proposals, write about
>technical subjects for the popular press, or create paid-space advertising,
>we are still subsets of the overall technical communication field.
>
>I know people who don't want to be called technical writer because they say
>they haven't written a *technical* in their entire career. [That's a joke,
>in case you didn't catch it.] I have been called a lot of things, some of
>them even sort of kind, in my career. Sometimes the titles even came close
>to describing what I did for a living. In the end, it didn't really make
>much difference. The pay was the same, the work was the same, and I was
>able to set aside a little for my old age.
>
>Have things changed so much today?
>
>Dan Wise
>dewise -at- ix -dot- netcom -dot- com
>
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