Re: Tech Writing as a career

Subject: Re: Tech Writing as a career
From: jcurran -at- VNET -dot- IBM -dot- COM
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 1994 20:43:45 GMT

I detect a lot of bitterness in others' responses...well, many technical
writers tend to be bitter people, I've noticed. It's probably because you
do have to get used to having programmers and engineers treat you like you
don't know your technical ass from a hole in the ground.

In <387pmc$1nn -at- crl6 -dot- crl -dot- com>, jaredle -at- crl -dot- com (James E Driggers) writes:
>a. What do you do over the course of a day as a writer?

I plan, diagram ideas, read technical journals, write, draw, think, send
and read Email, try to make software and hardware work, and extract
information from engineers and programmers (developers).

>b. How did you get your first job as a writer?

I started as a human factors engineer, then sold myself to the technical
writing department as someone who could make information usable.

>c. What kind of skills did you have starting out?

A passion for clear communication and lots of experience doing scientific
writing as a psychology undergraduate and graduate student.

>e. What's best/worst part of being a writer?

Creating things that make people's lives even a tiny bit easier.

>i. With strong writing skills, a BA in sociology and much clerical type
>experience, but next to none in programming, what kind of chance do I
>have getting a job as a tech writer?

I think it's not impossible if you can demonstrate understanding of
technical material (notice I didn't say anything about being interested in
technical material -- I think one of our greatest strengths is that we're
not always thrilled about the subject matter -- it keeps us objective) AND
if you get some experience using a couple of the major publishing software
applications. There are classes -- check the phone book under
Computers-Training.

-----------
Jim Curran "The information superhighway is not a
Information Developer freeway -- it's a toll road."
RTP, NC USA - Regis Magyar


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