Re: Do you equate engineers and programmers?

[Karla McMaster <mcmaster%pcmail -dot- cti-pet -dot- com -at- CTI-PET -dot- COM>]

Peggy said:

>  IMO doctor's are the same as Gwen's description of engineers.

which reminded me of a theory I forumulated while covering the medical beat for
the college paper while I was in grad school. I thought I'd toss it out here,
to see if you all have had experiences that reinforce or destroy this theory...

I think that people like to use information as power. And groups that tend to
be holding tanks for particular types of information (e.g., physicians,
scientific researchers, engineers, etc.) like to be thought of as the _only_
repository for that particular type of information. If they can successfully
place this perception in the public's mind, their power is increased.

To further this end, they like to develop languages (perhaps even writing
styles?) of their own. It's like having a secret code. This increases the
chances that their power will be maintained, because others cannot easily
understand what they're saying or writing.

Thus, to my mind, the general resistance to technical writers (of whatever ilk,
be it medical, software, hardware, whatever). The writer's goal is to make the
information ACCESSIBLE, which is directly antithetical to the professional's
goal of keeping the knowledge SECRET (or known only to the particular group of
which he or she is a member).

So...what do you think?

Karla