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RE: Have to know Programming to be able to write about it? -- NO
Subject:RE: Have to know Programming to be able to write about it? -- NO From:John Posada <JPosada -at- book -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 27 Feb 2003 15:50:41 -0500
Alan...you appear to be a very knowledgeable technical writer. One of the
other knowledgeable writers on this list writes about the Casino Gaming
industry, including casino backroom operations.
Now, being a very knowledgeable technical writer, could you write to that
audience with equal authority? Would your documents be as inclusive? Could
you stand toe to toe with one of his developers as you can with your current
peers, many of whom I'll assume have advanced degrees?
I'm going to guess not (maybe I'm wrong) However, if I'm not wrong, why not?
You have the skills to interview SMEs, you know how to write to the audience
at their right level. Seems like all the necessary skills, doesn't it? Oh,
yeah...I forgot one...like how the casino gaming industry works. Maybe you
might also need to know the requirements of the Nevada, NJ, Conn, etc.
gaming commissions. Nah, maybe not...aren't they similar to the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission?
Maybe, maybe not. OTOH, if you spend a couple of weeks with the gaming
commission, you'll be up to speed. And at the same time, I'm sure that it is
just as easy to gain that knowledge from the NRC in that same period of
time. After all, asking questions is the skill that you obviously have.
no?
John Posada
Senior Technical Writer
Barnes&Noble.com
jposada -at- book -dot- com
NY: 212-414-6656
Dayton: 732-438-3372
"Alright, nobody move! I've got a dragon here, and I'm not afraid to use it"
---------- Donkey
================================
My hand is most assuredly UP (virtually speaking). My areas include all
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solar, and geo-thermal) and all the technologies (from coal handling
equipment to reactor protection and control systems) associated with them.
Did operations manuals, procedures and training manuals for ... well,
several decades. Trained many SMEs to become technical writers and trainers,
and trained many "technical writers" to be SMEs in the technologies they
were struggling to write about. Guess what? It's far, far easier to make a
good SME into a good tech writer than to make a technically illiterate
writer into an SME.
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