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Ummm, I'm back with another '$oftware-companies-are-evil' cautionary note.
Funny how, in an industry with an artificially accelerated pace, with a
desperate need for programmers and hardly the wherewithall to train them,
they now make ask for tech writers who code.
I can understand why a tech writer might want to understand code--I'm going
to take a VisualBasic so that I'll be better at my job. Then I figure I'll
get around to learn C++. Maybe then I'll be in a better position to say
"what is this dialog? it looks like a piece of crap" (note to the attitude
police: we often say "piece of crap" here. it's casual. we like it that
way).
However, it chafes me to see programmers come in straight from university
and make more money than me. It really chafes me when they...never mind. To
lend you more context, these programmers, fresh from university, don't
necessarily have a degree in Computer Science. We just hired one with a
Biology degree, just like me. For all you know, the company posting the job
will have the tech writer doing all of her own programming as well as using
her expertise to write, and she probably won't be compensated according to
the money they save.
So there's nothing you can do but make yourself scarce except for a lot of
money.
