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

Subject: Re: What constitutes a senior tech writer and how to get
From: William Swallow <WSWALLOW -at- COMMSOFT -dot- NET>
Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1999 15:28:30 -0400

Your manager should always have some form of work for you (otherwise they
are not doing their job) but opportunities... opportunities are the
wonderful things you do with the work at your disposal. It is your manager's
job to make sure you have at least 40 hours of work to do every week. For
me, that's writing manuals. That's work. The opportunities I took advantage
of was finding a tool to single-source our documentation with and
successfully churning out print, PDFs, HTML and HTML Help from that
documentation. My manager did not give me that assignment, that was an
opportunity I took advantage of.

It all boils down to how motivated you as an individual are to set goals for
yourself and achieve them. No one is going to give you the world; if it's
theirs to give then they're more likely to keep it for themselves. Harsh, I
know, but true. Oh you'll be given plenty of work to do, but it's not what
you do... it's how you do it and how you exceed it that counts!

Bill Swallow
Technical Writer
Aptis
a subsidiary of Billing Concepts
phone: 518.433.7698
fax: 518.433.7680
mailto:wswallow -at- commsoft -dot- net
http://www.aptissoftware.com

> -----Original Message-----
> I disagree with the point of a manager being a lofty, inconsiderate space
> creature [my interpretation] who should not be personally involved with
> your
> growth. I firmly believe that a manager, supervisor, or any person
> charged with
> the responsibility of others should actually take responsibility of their
> workers and foster their growth. God has made me the manager of four
> children,
> and if I offer no support, assistance, or concern (all of which I could do
> better on), then how can I expect them to grow and become responsible
> young
> adults (or how can I give them a 'bad rating' when I don't take any
> responsibility for helping them out).
>
> My manager started out as a great role model for me. He taught me to be
> assertive [I was terribly shy], plan, arrange things, take care of
> business,
> interact with people, and become a manager myself. Having a manager who
> cares
> about you gives you confidence to make tough decisions, freedom to take
> care of
> business, and motivation to do your best. If I didn't have any mentor,
> and was
> 'up to myself' as others would claim, I would have zeros in these areas.
>
> My boss would create opportunities and situations that would stretch me,
> educate
> me, and get me involved. (Lately, my interests and growth have been the
> furthest thing from his mind, and I am currently seeking a new
> opportunity.)
>
> This doesn't mean that you have no responsibility, but you do your part to
> grow,
> and the manager should do his part to create opportunities.
>

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


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