Re: Poll: Is technical writing a sellout or fallback career?

["Jerry Kindall" <j -dot- kindall -at- tecplot -dot- com>]

Janice Gelb <Janice -dot- Gelb -at- Sun -dot- COM> writes:

> I suppose so, but on the "sellout" side, one of the
> problems with being a dedicated technical communicator
> is that the documentation is not the main product.

This is exactly why for the last seven years of my career, I've focused
on writing about products meant to be used by developers.  For a SDK,
the documentation essentially is the product.  And the value of any
developer-oriented product is significantly lower without accurate,
usable documentation.

Most people with any kind of programming skills seek jobs as
programmers, not writers, so a writer with a programming background, who
can write code samples as well as successfully engage a developer
audience, is relatively rare.

-- 
Jerry Kindall, Bellevue, WA, USA
Tecplot Inc. | Enjoy the view
http://www.tecplot.com/
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