Re: Dividing the Tech writer job

[Deborah Ray <debray -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM>]

At 05:49 PM 8/10/98 -0500, Jane wrote:
>As for training them to be tech writers, please don't try....not unless
>they're really eager for it AND willing to take some classes. The last
>thing our profession needs is more untrained typists who think that
>because they can run spell-check and use a tool like Frame, they can be
>tech writers. Typists do not "grow into technical writers."

Well, people in other professions grow into tech writers--
many people on this list came from non-writing backgrounds--
so why can't typists??? IMHO, one of the reasons tech. writing
is such an excellent profession is that the required skills
are very learnable--from the mechanics of writing and editing,
to the process of structuring information, to analyzing your audience,
to learning the tools needed to create documents, graphics, help files,
or whatever.

I've had the opportunity to teach technical writing classes
at two universities now, and I am constantly amazed at what
non-tech writing majors learn and what they produce as their
class projects. Certainly, tech. writing majors and students
with writing backgrounds *tend* to pick up on concepts more
quickly or show a bit more enthusiasm for the lessons; however,
they're *not* the only people capable of learning the concepts,
applying them, and producing truly outstanding materials.

I had a student last winter whose work was initially pretty
average. One day, I ran into another instructor who had this
student in her Composition class, and we talked a bit about
his progress. Apparently, in his first assignment turned in
for her class, the student's paper contained no verbs--none at
all according to the instructor. By mid-term in my class, one
term later, this student was using topic sentences, parallel
constructions, focused paragraphs, and choosing information
that met his audience's needs. At the same time, he learned
to use the tools necessary to create the intended document
(Microsoft Word, graphics software, and a scanner).

Certainly, these aren't all the "required" skills for our
field, and he may never become a tech writer (he wanted to
be a mechanic, actually). My point is that tech writing
skills are learnable and not just for "natural" writers.
It takes time and hard work--but we're not talking about
brain surgery or rocket science, folks.

What's more, even good technical writers aren't skilled
in all areas. Some of us are good at sentence-level stuff;
others are better organizers; some of us are excellent
techies; some of us produce more quickly than others.
The list goes on and on. My point here is that, just because
I'm not (yet) skilled in one area of the profession
doesn't mean that I can't be. I'll be darned if someone
tells me I can't learn something--yet that's exactly what
you're saying when you say that people "don't grow into
technical writers" or make similar statements.

I'm a big advocate of students--they're AMAZING and do
absolutely AMAZING things if you give them the opportunity.
And, I'm proud to say that, while I am a "professional"
technical writer, I am also a student taking coursework
and a student of my peers, my mentors, and of my students.

On the soapbox today,
Deborah


**************************************************************
* Deborah S. Ray, debray -at- raycomm -dot- com, http://www.raycomm.com/
* co-author _Mastering HTML 4.0_, _HTML 4 for Dummies Quick
  Reference_, _The AltaVista Search Revolution_, and others.
* RayComm, Inc., currently accepting contract inquiries.

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