Techniccal Writers I Have Known

["Karen E. Black" <kblack_text -at- hotmail -dot- com>]

Inspired by some reecnt posts:

I've been a lone writer, lo these many (14+) years, so I've met very few:

The person who wouldn't complete a weekly time report on tasks/hours worked: 
s/he worked offsite several days a week and the kids needed much of that 
time. S/he couldn't do it during office hours since s/he worked offsite so 
much. (Don't assume s/he was a woman.) [When developers walked by him/her to 
me, I had to steer them back -- for the moment.] The whole behaviour was 
symptomatic.

The TW/manager who couldn't meet with his/her subordinate (me) to discuss my 
work to save his/her life ("I don't want to damage our friendship"). I am 
not an animal. I couldn't find a way out for one year.

The person who couldn't speak to SMEs. The SMEs were too technical and the 
writer needed an intermediary.

The first-language-is-English person who couldn't write in English. This was 
a Tech Writer co-op student whose language skills were less than Grade 9, as 
far as I could tell, having been a university-level writing skills tutor 
with many first-language-is-not-Engish clients.

The person contracted by his/her contracting company to write content based 
on code alone since it was a new product (can do, will do). Took 2 weeks or 
more off-hours to learn, but the solid skills were there already, and s/he 
produced a satisfactory product in the time allotted.

The contractor who was dropped into a working group with no knowledge of the 
the interface/hardware who picked it up in minimal time because THE 
INTERFACE WAS GREAT (and the SMEs were available), and after I was commended 
by the editors.

The writer with 10+ years experience who produced a resume that got past the 
circular file and passed an interview and was hired on the spot and whose 
employers still don't know what to do with her...

Karen Black in Toronto, waiting for a role (after TELLING them for 2 years)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Is fearr socrú dá dhonacht ná dlí dá fheabhas.
It's better to solve the problem than to improve the law.
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