Re: Dividing the Tech writer job

[Tracy Boyington <tracy_boyington -at- OKVOTECH -dot- ORG>]

>>Typists do not "grow into technical writers."
>
> An arrow shot threw my heart as I read this. Nonsense! I began as a
> typist/typesetter in the early '70s.

While there *are* wonderful writers who started out as typists,
typesetters, secretaries, etc., I don't think we should consider those
careers part of the "career ladder" for tech writers. I doubt Jane meant
that it's impossible, just that it shouldn't be considered part of the
standard career path, any more than nurses are expected to "grow" into
doctors (which reminds me of someone I knew who wanted to be a
photographer and decided to go to secretarial school so she could be a
photographer's secretary and work her way up.) The set of knowledge and
skills that makes a good typist or typesetter is not necessarily the
same set that makes a good tech writer, and the fact that you had both
sets is either a coincidence or a bonus depending on how you look at it.
:-)

Tracy
who has been a secretary, but never a "documentation girl," thank
goodness
--
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Tracy Boyington         mailto:tracy_boyington -at- okvotech -dot- org
Oklahoma Dept. of Vocational & Technical Education
Curriculum & Instructional Materials Center
Stillwater, Oklahoma    http://www.okvotech.org/cimc/
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