Editors and writers; was: Re: job title nomenclature on biz cards

Subject: Editors and writers; was: Re: job title nomenclature on biz cards
From: David Neeley <dbneeley -at- oddpost -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 12:35:18 -0700 (PDT)


"I have often seen job ads for "Editor" or "Writer." STC notwithstanding, I
have yet to see an ad for "Communicator."

-- Dan Goldstein"

In my experience, companies hire "technical editors" who are expected to check details--grammar, punctuation, page numbering, and the like--and little more. Thus, they are often considered less skilled than technical writers and are usually paid much less.

I believe this is somewhat wrong-headed. To me, it makes more sense to hire as an editor someone who is a very skilled technical writer and team leader, who can both handle the sorts of details necessary, but who can also serve to help educate the tech writers to follow the organizational style guides, to better organize their materials, and, in general, how to make their writing more effective and efficient. This would be much more the sort of "editor" that publishers employ.

In many organizations, from what I have experienced, there is seldom enough of this kind of ongoing quality check.

David




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References:
RE: job title nomenclature on biz cards: From: Goldstein, Dan

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