Definition of Tech Writer, was STC is broken

[Ned Bedinger]

Lauren wrote:
> Alright.  I compared and contrasted business writing and technical writing
> and stated that the two writing classes are different.  I gave my examples

I think the distinction you've identified is real. Here's my example:

I was working in a phone company as lone tech rider, documenting a 
complex network re-engineering project. They liked my work, and I was in 
thick with programmers, project managers, and the business class.

Then one day, the Oracle team asked me to document their Financials. 
Oracle Financials, that would be a business writing task, wouldn't it? 
Long story short, the work never materialized because while I could 
document Oracle database applications, I didn't have any experience with 
Financials.

This anecdote illustrates the constant objection I have to the 
"Communicator" job title: communications are not jello, and I don't work 
by dissolving a batch of information and pouring it into a mold. What I 
have to do as a technical writer is artisanal, like blowing glass, or 
throwing a clay pot on a wheel.  The "communicator" model, IMHO, wants 
to claim that I have a push-button labeled Communicate--just wind me up, 
point me at the work, push my button, et voila!

The point is inevitable: I can be a born communicator and a technical 
writer, a web developer and creative marketing copy writer, a medical 
device writer with 21CFR11 requirements, a SOX writer, a green-belt Six 
Sigma PM, an official of the STC, a policy and procedure writer, an 
journalist, science writer, and an avid correspondent in Esperanto and a 
double-handful of other languages in which I also translate scientific 
journals, and  still, it does not follow that I am the embodiment of the 
specification for a drop-in communicator who can do any technical 
writing task.

Disclaimer:
My example illustrates that I agree with Lauren on this point, but 
someone will point out that even Oracle Financials writing is artisanal. 
To that point, I say "I have a driver's license. Can I take your Indy 
car out for a few laps, I want to set a speed record in the Unskilled 
Novice class?" IOW, communication and tech writing, even in a Venn 
diagram, don't automatically overlap where the non-trivial aspects are 
concerned.

Uh oh, getting tired of this already.

Ned Bedinger
doc at edwordsmith.com