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When I was hired at my current company, I would have
accepted just about any title that wasn't outright
insulting.
The fact that the Veep of Engineering who hired me,
volunteered to call me "Senior Technical Writer"
(code for "only technical writer") is not important
to me at this job, even if/when they start hiring
other writers (tight-money situation just now, don't
you know).
However, I'm betting it will take on greater
importance when-er-I-mean-if I apply for my next
position somewhere.
Of course, in that event, the then-current job
market will decide whether I actually USE the
title. Good to have it available when the target
company really wants you and it's time to negotiate
price.
Good to conveniently ignore when you are one of
many writers vying for one job and you don't want
to appear "over-qualified".
In the computer/communications industry, it helps
that similar terminology is applied to programmers,
software designers and engineers. It's a further
help that many big corporations have pay-structure
guide-lines that force employees into categories
like Admin, Support, Operations, R&D... If you can
land in one of the "hard" classifications, then your
title of "Senior" kinda pushes you up the pay scale. :-)
I'd say it doesn't hurt to have a little prestige.
If it isn't handy just now, that's not to say it
won't become so, when the situation changes. Don't
make a big issue out of it, but when you find
yourself under a congenial boss, have the title
changed to something you like. If, while working
a certain position, you never do find yourself under
a congenial boss, then that's an entirely separate
issue. :-)
But, come to think of it, so is finding yourself
under anybody, on the job... try to get incriminating
pictures...
/kevin
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Swallow, William [mailto:WSwallow -at- courion -dot- com]
>Sent: Friday, August 10, 2001 11:22 AM
>To: TECHWR-L
>Subject: RE: Senior Technical Writer
>
>
>That would be my experience. Screw the title; call me what you
>want. Just
>pay me fairly for the work I do and the level of responsibility I am
>accountable for.
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A landmark hotel, one of America's most beautiful cities, and
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IPCC 01, Oct. 24-27 in Santa Fe. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/
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