THANKS! Re: Software engineer tech. writers? Do they exist?

[Dossy Shiobara]

Everyone,

Thanks for responding to my questions--it is nice to get confirmation
that there are tech. writers who can and do read program source code in
order to write documentation.

I'd like to follow-up with a second question: while it's not unusual for
a software developer to contribute code to an open-source software
project, I haven't (personally) seen much evidence of tech. writers
contributing documentation, manuals, etc. to open-source software
projects.

Why do you suppose this is?  Are tech. writers so in-demand that they
have no spare time to get involved in non-paying projects?  Is there a
perception that "giving your work away for free" might devalue the
paying work?  Or, is it just that the average tech. writer uses so few
free/open source tools that they have so little exposure to open source
projects that they regularly use which they could contribute back to?

Excuse my ignorance of the tech. writing profession, but that's why I
value this forum and your answers and opinions--I've already learned a
lot from all the responses I received from my first question.

Thanks,

-- Dossy


On 2007.09.02, Dossy Shiobara <dossy at panoptic.com> wrote:
> Are there software-oriented tech. writers who are also software
> engineers who can read through C source and write documentation
> based on what it does?
> 
> The C code in question (AOLserver) is very clean, well-written and
> organized.
> 
> Is there any hope in finding a tech. writer who has the necessary
> skills to help document such a project, or am I just dreaming?

-- 
Dossy Shiobara              | dossy at panoptic.com | http://dossy.org/
Panoptic Computer Network   | http://panoptic.com/
  "He realized the fastest way to change is to laugh at your own
    folly -- then you can let go and quickly move on." (p. 70)