Re: What constitutes a senior tech writer and how to get there?

[Brian Clements <bclements -at- FPIX -dot- COM>]

The fault here lies with the manager or management team. As with any field
(foreign languages, music, mathematics), the best way to learn to be a good
tech writer is to do it. An entire year just proofreading? That's not only
poor training, but I would imagine a huge waste of salary (assuming the
writer was being paid as a writer and not as a proofer). The issue here is
not that the writer is under-trained but that the writer has not been given
the opportunity to train himself or herself. The best way to learn how to
avoid mistakes is to make them. Perhaps this manager emerged fully trained
from the forehead of Bill Gates and doesn't realize that most of us had to
educate ourselves by fire before we became excellent.

Brian Clements
Documentation Manager
fpix, inc.
bclements -at- fpix -dot- com
214-659-5308


-----Original Message-----
From: Anonymous Poster [mailto:anonfwd -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM]
Sent: Friday, July 30, 1999 11:08 AM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: FWD: What constitutes a senior tech writer and how to get
there?


ANON>> Brief background: Two writers in a group, each with 7-8 years of
experience,
ANON>> plus tech writing degrees. Three years ago, a third writer is asked
to join
ANON>> the group, but has no experience, no education, no training. Spends
the
ANON>> first year with virtually no projects, and nothing to do beyond
proofreading
ANON>> projects for the other writers. Second year, third writer is given a
few
ANON>> simple projects, which are completed to the best of the writer's
limited
ANON>> capabilities. At review time, writer is soundly criticized for doing
a
ANON>> "lousy" job with the projects. Group manager says he will spend more
time
ANON>> "training" new writer, but ends up being "too busy" to help beyond
taking
ANON>> the red pen to the new writer's work. Third year, new writer is given
a few
ANON>> projects to do from scratch, which seem to be going ok. At review
time,
ANON>> writer is again criticized for not developing the skills and
technical
ANON>> expertise needed to be considered a senior writer.
ANON>>
ANON>> The question is this: what kind of skills and experience does one
need to be
ANON>> considered a senior writer? What kind of training, seminars, books,
would
ANON>> help? Is experience the best teacher? How can one learn new things if
one is
ANON>> not assigned projects that make one grow?
ANON>>
ANON>> Any opinions, facts, and advice are welcome.

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