Re: Conceit, or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Competition (long)

[Mark Baker <mbaker -at- OMNIMARK -dot- COM>]

Bergen, Jane wrote

> If a typist takes
>classes or undergoes some kind of real training, he or she may indeed
>grow into a technical writer,

It is the sine qua non of tech writing that a tech writer be someone who is
able to learn a product or process for which no training exists. It is the
tech writer, after all, who creates the training materials from which others
are trained. It follows that someone who requires training to become a tech
writer cannot in fact become one at all, since they evidently lack the
essential attribute of being able to pick something up without training.

(Which is not to say that anyone who was in fact formally trained is
incompetent. We often take training that we don't need for the sake of the
piece of paper. Such are the evils of credentialism. And yes, sometimes we
can use training to speed up our learning, if it is good training. )

On the subject of loosing positions to less qualified people, let us
remember that tech writing is a commercial enterprise, not an academic
discipline. Quality is defined as what the customer is willing to pay for.
Sometimes the quality of documentation makes a huge commercial difference.
Sometimes it makes no difference at all. Employers pay high salaries to
experienced people because they recognize that they make a large commercial
difference. If your employer does not see, and you cannot demonstrate, that
you make a greater contribution to the firm's bottom line than a less
qualified person, why pay you more money to achieve the same commercial
effect?
---
Mark Baker
Manager, Corporate Communications
OmniMark Technologies Corporation
1400 Blair Place
Gloucester, Ontario
Canada, K1J 9B8
Phone: 613-745-4242
Fax: 613-745-5560
Email mbaker -at- omnimark -dot- com
Web: http://www.omnimark.com

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