Re: Satisfaction (was ... Re: The value of technical writers)

[Penny Staples <pstaples -at- AIRWIRE -dot- COM>]

Don't have time today for the full story, but here's my two cents worth:

I've generally had good experiences working with programmers and engineers
in a development environment, especially in the last few years. They're good
at what they do. I'm good at what I do. I've rarely had a problem with lack
of respect. Any good developer I've ever worked with has been glad to have
me around. Programmers would rather write code than documentation, and
that's fine with me.  I did work at one place, early in my career, where
upper management considered me as some sort of glorified secretary, but even
there, I didn' t have any trouble with the programmers and managers that I
worked with every day -- they were great.

If I do run into a situation where I'm not getting the respect and
cooperation that I feel is necessary for me to do good work, I think I'd
simply update my resume and portfolio and move on. It's not worth getting
angry or upset about. In the current market, I don't have to put up with a
disfunctional work environment.

Also, I think Eric is dead right when he says:

> Additionally, after showing that you
> "get it", don't ask the same questions twice, learn from
> your mistakes, and are respectful of other's time and
> efforts, you can generally even improve on a good
> situation.

Regards to all,

Penny Staples
pstaples -at- airwire -dot- com

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=