TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Mr. North's commentary interests me since he is what was termed as a =
"hybrid" writer, therefore I hope to see more from him in the future.
A perspective coming from Europe, (which he hails from) is welcome (at =
least by me). How are the markets, trends, future projections with =
regards to Technical Writing in Europe?
Guy McDonald
guym -at- daka -dot- com
----------
From: Simon North[SMTP:snorth -at- TEDOPRES -dot- NL]
Sent: Monday, December 18, 1995 1:58 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: TW Backgrounds
As usual with such sweeping generalisations, the classifications are =
largely
innaccurate. You have left out at least one major group: people whose
interests were too wide to allow themselves to be squashed into a niche. =
consider myself to be a member of this group and I am personally =
acquainted
with several more. To illustrate, at school pure mathematics was my =
dream
subject but I also loved eng. lit. I went to university to study maths, =
stats
and computing but _hated_ statistics. Transferred to english and french =
lit.
studies. Career choices were too limited, so re-trained as avionics =
technician,
followed by 6 years 'in the field' as an electronics repair technician.
Now (past 13 years), technical author with (even though I say it myself) =
thorough understanding of electronics, software (several languages,
documentation
right down to compiler internals) and a wide range of engineering =
disciplines.
I am by no means an exception (certainly not in Europe at least). We are =
simply
people who never call decide between 'arts' and 'sciences'. Technical =
writing
is probably the only discipline that so perfectly combines the two.
Simon North
Documentation Engineer
mailing from, but not for ...
