Re: Question: Market for Technical Writing

[Melissa Morgan <mmorgan -at- INTREPID -dot- CDG-HARGRAY -dot- COM>]

Tony Markatos says:

>There are two basic types of TWs.  There are those that focus primarily on
>drafting documentation (i.e., focus on style, and sentence structure).
>(English majors are the classic example.) And their are those that focus
>primarily on engineering documentation (i.e., developing highly task
>oriented properly partioned documentation).  (Engineering types often fit
>this mold).

Well, I'm not sure I fully agree with what Tony is promoting. It seems
to me (and correct me if I'm wrong) that this issue is not as simple as
it might seem. I have a B.A. in English, and I have also worked as a
lab technician in a steel foundry, writing ISO procedures for complex
physical and chemical tests. I am currently a technical writer for a
software company. I really do not feel like I fit either of the molds that
Tony describes, because I feel that my success in creating 'good'
documentation depends on my ability to integrate the two approaches.
I value good grammar and sentence structure, but realize that aspect
is rather useless if the document is technically inaccurate.

Does anyone else feel this way? Or am I crazy for thinking it's possible
to function on both levels, simultaneously?

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

Melissa Morgan
mmorgan -at- intrepid -dot- cdg-hargray -dot- com

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=