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> Just had an interview with people who kept asking, "But where do
> you get all those details if nobody writes it for you?" and "What
> does a technical writer DO besides make it look pretty?"
You too?! A few years back, the marketing vp (and former programmer years
before) at a company where I was working said just that in a senior staff
meeting. She thought all publications were written by the programmers and
hardware engineers. According to her, all pubs did was "make it look
pretty". She wanted us to publish the manuals we were given, not make them
look pretty first. She never did believe the three of us wrote all hardware
and software publications, including service manuals, ourselves.
<G> Perhaps her (and senior management's) lack of understanding of internal
processes was one of the reasons the company laid off 50% of its staff twice
(120 to 60 to 30) during the 30 months I worked there.
Best,
Denise L. Fritch
Senior Technical Writer
Mountain View, CA
