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Subject:ANON: My replacement From:Anonymous <anonfwd -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 27 Jan 1999 06:06:51 -0700
Message forwarded on request. Please
reply on list.
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I need some quick advice, and a search of the archives didn't turn up
exactly what I needed, so here goes.
For a few years, I have been working as a tech writer in a medium-sized
software company. We have two tech writers. Just recently one of our tech
writers took another position, and I was told that we were going to try one
of our administrative assistants as a replacement, someone "who was
interested in writing," although of course the person in question has no
actual writing experience or an actual college degree. I would be in
charge of training this person, etc., etc. The reason I don't sound more
irked about this situation is because *I* am leaving the company too, for a
more lucrative job at another, more structured software firm.
This announcement caused some excitement, but the main thing I am worried
about is my replacement. My boss has almost no doc experience and,
although a nice person, doesn't really understand writers or writing. He
asked where I would suggest finding a replacement and I suggested using a
headhunter to bring in a "real" tech writer, especially since there is
someone with no experience to train and none of the managers have doc
experience. He turned this down flat, saying that the last tech writer
they'd gotten through headhunters didn't work out at all. While this is
pretty absurd on the face of it, my manager has a lot of clout here, and I
think it may turn out into one of these situations where they try to hobble
by with a freelance guy (works parttime remotely, does an okay job, not
very conscientious) and the admin assistant. It's not easy finding tech
people of any kind lately, and our company tends to be a bit frugal on the
salary front for non-programmers.
I think the head of our department will be talking to me about why I'm
leaving. I'd like to make some suggestions about how and why to get
someone *good* to replace me--but I'm under the gun getting things done, so
I don't have much time or energy to think about it. I know this may sound
dumb and elementary, but can you guys come up with any good ways to find
tech writers, or reasons why going through a headhunter is actually not
such a bad idea? In other words, what would *you* say?
