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Subject:Liberal Arts vs. Engineering From:Yvonne DeGraw <yvonne -at- SILCOM -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 12 Sep 1997 08:29:17 -0700
Since I got into this business, my theory has been that good technical
writers are people who *need* to feed both sides of their brains--the
verbal, subjective side and the analytic side. We move back and forth along
a spectrum between the two extremes. At least, that's the way it is for me.
This balancing act is part of what makes this field and the people in it
special. Many technical communicators say one thing they like about this
field is that they are always learning something new--whether it's C++
programming or font aesthetics.
Most people get a degree on one side of the fence or the other. I've met
lots of tech writers who look like they are in transition or with hobbies at
the other end of the spectrum from their work focus--English majors learning
programming, API documenters doing calligraphy.
I used to think this meant individual tech writing careers would usually
evolve into specialization on one side or the other--say training vs.
interface programming--because one side's pull would always be stronger.
But, perhaps it's really that we need to live in both halves of our brains
in order to do our jobs well.
Personally, I spend two years as a geophysics major and two as a journalism
major.
Yvonne DeGraw, Technical Services o Technical Writing
yvonne -at- silcom -dot- com o Online Help http://www.silcom.com/~yvonne o Web Documentation
Tel: 805/683-5784 o Database Publishing
Chair, STC Region 8 Conference: http://stc.org/region8/snb/reg8conf
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