Re: qualifications for hiring tech writers

[Alexander Adrian Szczepaniak <szczeaa -at- ANUBIS -dot- NETWORK -dot- COM>]

Hmm.  A very good post!

I believe that you bring up is at the heart of defining
what a technical communicator _ought_ to be able to do:

You said (Karen Otto
<KAREN_OTTO -at- HP-SPOKANE-OM2 -dot- OM -dot- HP -dot- COM):

My job encompasses more than just reporting on the
    functions of a system.  I am in the heat of feature
    definition, firmware and software UI creation, and
    have even found and solved problems unrecognized by
    the design engineers.  I have even designed an
    antenna for use by the users.



I think that too often firm's focus on a writer's ability
to use tools and familiarity with an OS or years of
experience.  Ultimately the hiring of qualified
communicator is a rich and complex process.  The hiring
of a glorified word-processing technician is much easier
and is often confused with the hiring of a writer.

An effective communicator with proper technical knowledge
and adaptability is ideal for many technical writing
jobs.  The problem is that most engineers (who can
communicate well enough to move beyond engineering) leave
us for management positions (not writing positioons).
This is because these people are true knowledge and
communication engineers, and they can adapt and
communicate very well and possess a deep technical
understanding of a given subject--therefore, they can
only find an adequate level of compensation at management
(not publications) level.

Does anyone agree?

-- Alex Szczepaniak