Re: TECHWR-L Digest - 16 Apr 1999 to 17 Apr 1999 (#1999-1)

[howard <hb -at- PENCIL -dot- U-NET -dot- COM>]

>One thing about money - it tends, eventually, to lure most of the best
>technical writers away from "captive" employment because it represents an
>option different from writing the same ol' stuff about the same ol' systems.

Is this in places that haven't got drag & drop editing yet?

Thanks all for the insights into contracting, everyone, it's a line of work
I'm sure many of us consider and it's good to see some hyperbole about how
bad things can get as well as the hype about daily rates etc.

Then again, I know quite a few people, tech authors, who've wandered onto
"turfs" in staff work. Usually the "We're developers/programmers/analysts
and you're a writer. We're far more important. You'll work with the
information we give you 'cos we know what you need to know because we could
do your job and would if our own weren't so important..." hence writers end
up with hours of input on "this is how it works" not "this is how you use
it".

Sadly, it seems that documentation is still seen as an unneccessary
intrusion on the real business of writing code/selling products in quite a
few places. It's not *just* contractors who've a problem in this area
AFAICMO.

Maybe contractors just see it in a lot more organisations numerous times
each financial year where staffies are more prone to believe it's only
their workplace--hence things aren't mentioned for corporate image reasons?

howard
mailto:hb -at- pencil -dot- u-net -dot- com

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