Subject:Re: Is being technical writer boring From:"Dana Worley" <dana -at- campbellsci -dot- com> To:TECHWR-L -at- LISTS -dot- RAYCOMM -dot- COM Date:Wed, 03 Sep 2003 09:26:15 -0600
On 2 Sep 2003 at 6:18, louise -at- poptel -dot- net wrote:
> The words 'boring' and 'dull' feature heavily in their response, so
> what I really want to know is 'is technical writing boring??'.
I think if I had to sit at my desk all day and do nothing but write, I
would pull my hair out. Yes, technical writing would indeed be
boring.
However, there are many jobs that include a lot more than just
sitting in a cube and writing all day. I would look for positions that
encompass a variety of responsibilities.
I am lucky enough to not only write manuals and help files, but also
do alpha/beta testing on software & hardware coming from
engineering, teach training classes, develop/maintain definition files
for our program editor, and do some customer support. I also
manage one of our (smaller) software development projects,
provide input on GUI design, and prepare/edit some marketing
literature.
Because I am writing documentation and doing testing, I am usually
one of the first to have the latest "toys" (both hardware & software)
from Engineering. Now what could be more fun than that? :) (and
they pay me to have all this fun!)
Well, OK, somedays I'd still like to pull my hair out, but it's never
boring!
