Re: Giving TW help: Are we training our replacements?

["T. Word Smith" <techwordsmith -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

Good question.

--- Chuck Martin <cm -at- writeforyou -dot- com> wrote:
> 
> Bottom line: When answering pleas for help here, and
> in other online venues,
> are we in some cases telling people how our jobs are
> done fundamentally,
> people who are angling to take our jobs for lower
> pay, especially people who
> are "offshore?"

Yes.

I think about this, too. But, I can do nothing about
the fact that I:

1) Detest those cultures, cliques, and professions
that "hoard the knowledge at the expense of others,
because knowledge is power." I like to share. I enjoy
sharing. And, I have found, others do share back.

2) I would rather share what I've learned with 1,000
Pakistanis than suffer naive micromanagement from one
red-blooded American SME manager (engineer,
programmer) who won't give the time of day to consider
my profession or talent.

3) As a US-based technical writer, I have done jobs
for European companies. I have no problem with
European (or other) companies doing jobs for American
companies. That's the way it works. What I want is
savings to be passed along to the consumer. For
example, Adobe offshored FrameMaker--I would hope that
the extra profit doesn't all go to the CEO, but some
of it results in a lower-priced product (loss of jobs
is making us poor, we need a break on price) and the
reduced wages for programmers makes for an investment
in more programming talent to develop FrameMaker
further.

So, I would say the fears are well founded and we all
should consider them. But, I also suggest you consider
how your professional instincts, heart, and gut tell
you to behave ... and good luck! To a degree, we all
have to take a position on this and move on.


=====
T.

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