Re: What constitutes a senior tech writer and how to get there?

[Sarah O'Keefe <okeefe -at- SCRIPTORIUM -dot- COM>]

>Sarah O'Keefe wrote:
>> In my opinion, a senior technical writer is an individual who can plan and
>> execute a writing project without outside assistance. That is, the writer
>> can:
><snip>

Eric Ray responded:
>I'd buy that, with two quibbles:
>First, qualify "without outside assistance" to "without outside
>writing/tech pubs assistance". That is, you overlooked the source
>of the information and the (reasonably high) likelihood that
>the senior writer will need to consult with a senior engineer
>(or junior engineer, or assembly tech or whatever) to get the content
>together.

Quite true. But in my particular universe of outsourced writing projects,
"without outside assistance" often means: "Here's the software. Go!"

The writer should be self-sufficient in terms of the writing job, but will
of course need information and/or assistance from others. (Pretty hard to
do context-sensitive help without information and cooperation from the
developers...)

>Second, I'd recast "plan and execute a writing project" as "plan
>and execute and deliver a maintainable writing project". Being
>able to _deliver_ is top priority, and maintainable is a close second.
>That is, if a writer delivers, but when revisions time comes (and
>come it will), if the pretty tables are elaborate constructions of
>multiple tabs and hand-drawn lines, the product wasn't from a
>"senior writer".

Agreed. And why are you peeking at my pretty tables?! <g>

>BTW, congrats on the Frame for Dummies book!

Thanks.

>UNIX Visual QuickStart Guide is "a superb book!"

And congrats on *your* latest!

Sarah

*************************************************************
Sarah O'Keefe           Scriptorium Publishing Services, Inc.
Author, FrameMaker for Dummies (available 8/99) 919-481-2701
WebWorks Publisher certified trainer   okeefe -at- scriptorium -dot- com
http://www.scriptorium.com


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