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Subject:RE: Do as they say, not as they do From:kcronin -at- daleen -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 5 Feb 2003 12:52:04 -0700
Sean wrote:
> Still, I
> compare my timetable and resources to those of Microsoft and grin.
>From my conversations with friends and family who work there, nothing
they've told me makes me think their tech writers have it any better than
any of us. Documentation is certainly not on any pedestal at MS, so I'm
hesitant to assume they have better resources. *More* resources yes, but
with them come more deliverables. From what I gather, they suffer the same
pressures and indignities as the rest of us. And for less money than a lot
of us. Microsoft knows the value its name adds to one's resume, and pays
accordingly.
> when--as always happens--somebody values the published opinion of a
> Microsoft technical writer over my ten years of experience, education,
> and training, I just smile even more.
I've not run into that. Nor would I automatically assume an MS tech writer
is better than somebody else. I'd only assume they like rainy weather more
than I do. <g>
I guess the bottom line of my gripe is that we've got TWs from Microsoft
ON THIS LIST. I feel bad when they get slammed, because among members of
this list they are just about the only people I know whose everyday work
is on display. So they get targeted.
But I know I've published some howlers in my documentation, and would
assume most of you have, too. When I'm lucky, *I'm* the one who catches
them, and fixes them for the next iteration. I hate it when a coworker or
customer finds it first. And I shudder to think how I'd feel if all of YOU
were literally delighting in finding my mistakes. Jeez - I've been
crucified for improper apostrophes in a techwr-l post before - that was
bad enough!
Keith Cronin
whose name doggedly violates the i before e rule, as does the word "weird"
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