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The kind of direct interference you describe seems bizarre, indeed. Was this
local, regional, or national disruption of your study program?
We've had local STC meetings (with 30-50% of memers in attendance) at which
those who hire writers warned against focusing on hard technical knowledge.
We've had meetings at which people eagerly soaked up technical detail. I've
received jobs through STC networking at which technical knowledge helped me
win out over other candidates, receive premium pay, or both.
I can't deny the importance of technical training. Documentation theories
are valuable, but they produce planning documents, not deliverables. You've
got to have some of both. The relative portions depend on the situation.
It sounds as if you have reason to be bitter. My experience has been
different, thus far.
-Ed Gregory
-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-93175 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-93175 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On Behalf Of Andrew
Plato
Sent: Sunday, April 07, 2002 12:50 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Cc: ed -at- gregorynet -dot- net
Subject: Re: HUMOR: STC Conference Time!
BB>> "In short, what I would like to see is presentations that would get
writers
BB>> more interested in the technical side of the profession. I'm convinced
it
BB>> can be done - but I don't know of many efforts to do it.
>
EG> "How much effort have YOU put into making this happen?"
I have been participating right here and sponsoring TECHWR-L. I've been
explaining security to writers, telling people how to use MS Exchange
Servers,
explaining concepts of business, law, etc. I've been also been advising
people
here to become more technical. To learn their companies products and
services
at a greater depth. And once a month (or so) I get a private email that
says,
thank you from a writer who took that advice and ended up getting a better
job,
a raise, or at least more respect among her co-workers.
Furthermore, I learned long ago that fighting STC was a fruitless and
unrewarding endeavor. STC doesn't want to change and it will go to great
lengths to stop any change.
This was never more blatant to me than last year when a few of us at my firm
tried to put together a technical study group for writers. We were going to
try
to become Microsoft certified. I was certified in 1996, but needed to get
re-certified. Moreover, we figured it would be a good opportunity to become
more technically skilled with Windows systems.
One of the guys in my office (who is an STC member) suggested we put out an
invite via an STC mailing list. We did and a ton of people showed up -
including a few longtime STC members.
On the second meeting, one of these STC people announced to the group that
she
thought this type of technical training was "useless" and that she had
spoken
with "a number of technical publications managers" who told her that such
technical training would not encourage them to hire a candidate. Then, over
the
next few weeks the STC folks went to work on the attendees. They would email
attendees and tell them that this was a waste of time and that they
shouldn't
go. Attendance plummeted and eventually, we just did the study group among
ourselves.
It was another STC moment that affirmed what I always believed to be true.
STC
outright discourages writers from obtaining technical training. STC and it
wants to make sure writers remain non-technical, so they will continue to
see
value in the parade on one-off issues they champion.
Andrew Plato
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