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Subject:RE: The Old Argument: FrameMaker vs. MS Word From:"Higgins, Lisa" <LHiggins -at- carrieraccess -dot- com> To:TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 21 Jan 2000 10:38:56 -0700
> Thank you for making my point for me so well. You are turning
> away good writers because they are not Jacks of all trades. That is
> precisely what is wrong with the profession at the moment. Look at the
list
> of skills you have given. No one can master all those skills. If you ask
them
> to, either they will do one or two things well and the rest badly, or they
> will do everything poorly.
This is one big reason that I shy away from calling myself a tech writer
sometimes. I get bored and stagnant and frustrated when all I do is write. I
don't want to just write. I want to design communications that help people
do their jobs. And doing that involves figuring out what people need to know
and how to best describe that to them, and then making that thing, whatever
it is.
I know that there are people who just want to do tech writing, and for those
who are happy doing that, I don't begrudge you. I ask you, though, not to
begrudge me; and please don't imply that because I want and need some
diversity in my job to stay happy and productive in what I do, I am doing my
job poorly.
