technical skills vs. writing skills (again)

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>]

At the risk of reviving a long-ago exhausted subject, yeterday I had 
first hand experience of a technical writers' need to have a technical 
background - or at least the willingness to obtain one.

I was called in to an interview for a full-time job yesterday. I don't 
know if I'll take it if offered - contracting being in my blood - but 
that's a decision for another day, and depends on what the salary and 
working conditions are like. If nothing else, the occasional application 
helps to keep me informed about the local job market.

At any rate, before the interview, the company sent a brief writing test 
to those who were short-listed. The test was based on the company's 
product line, which is very technical, and likely beyond the knowledge 
of anyone who hasn't worked in the company's particular area of 
high-tech.  In giving my response, I noted at the top that I could edit 
the material provided, make design suggestions, and indicate how I would 
go about learning about the subject matter - but that I couldn't do any 
actual technical writing because I didn't know enough.

To be honest, I didn't expect to be called in after that outburst of 
frankness. However, I was. It turned out that, contrary to my 
misgivings, the interviewer knew that what was asked was impossible. 
However, out of the nine candidates short-listed, the interviewer said, 
I was the only one who noted that the impossible was being asked. The 
rest just went ahead and did the exercise. I was also the only one who 
said that he or she preferred to work from technical expertise. In fact, 
several of the others repeated the tired old STC party-line that 
tech-writers don't need expertise in the subject matter. My approach was 
"refreshing," he said, and a large chunk of our discussion diverged from 
the interviewer's outline of questions, and went into  how I could go 
about getting the expertise I needed if I were hired.  In other words, 
unless I completely misread the reaction, I fully expect to be called 
into the next stage of the hiring process. Of course, I still may not 
get the job, but I came away feeling that it was mine to lose.

The morale? The theoretical discussion of whether a tech-writer needs 
technical expertise is probably endless. Undoubtedly, however, ihaving 
expertise or being willing to obtain it is one of the strongest ways to 
stand out from the competition. In this case,the interviewer was 
obviously tired of the "writers just need to write" argument; he 
indicated that he'd heard it too often and seen it disproved too often 
for it to have any credibility. I strongly suspect that he isn't the 
only one who feels that way.

--
Bruce Byfield bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604.421.7177
http://members.axion.net/~bbyfield

"Some say the Devil's just an angel in the dark,
Some say the Devil's just a good man feeling bad,
Some say the Devil's just the lads out for a lark,
Some say the Devil plays the only music glad and good."
-Jez Lowe, "Tear-Drop Two-Step"



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