RE: Maybe We (Don't) Need a New Job Title

[Karen Field <kfield -at- STELLCOM -dot- com>]

Connie wrote:
<<And we're back to another age-old debate, the
"I'm-a-Writer-and-only-a-Writer" crowd versus the
"I-want-to-be-respected-like-the-programmers" crowd.>>

Some valid points...HOWEVER,

My post wasn't about the tasks a tech writer does: My post was about keeping
things simple--the heart of our profession, no?

Also, the issue is what I approached (vs. "attacked"), not the poster. (If
the poster feels attacked, I apologize. However, posting contradictory
opinions to someone's post is not equivalent to attacking the poster.)

What's important to me is not so much title as the work I do. (For
example,I'll be learning and using Web-Publishing skills as part of my job.
You can bet those skills will appear on my resume, and you can bet I'll
expect a pay increase when I acquire and use these skills here.) But
insisting that my cohorts refer to me as "Information Architect" ((even
though job responsibilities encompass more than writing, which they do)
seems a little like shouting, "Respect me! Respect me! You MUST respect
me!"--not exactly respectable behavior. I'd rather earn respect by doing a
professional job, subtly yet firmly discouraging people's perceptions if
they see me as "clerk/typist," and becoming and remaining an integral part
of a development team. 

This is always an invigorating discussion (and it's come up more than once
lately), so I've enjoyed it. Now back to work for me.