RE: Definition of Technical Writer

Subject: RE: Definition of Technical Writer
From: Diane Brennan <dalaine00 -at- yahoo -dot- com>
To: John Posada <jposada01 -at- yahoo -dot- com>, techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 15:42:14 -0700 (PDT)

Geez John, after all the discrimination discussions I would think you would say "He couldn't read C".

For the senior technical writer position, I think that the term "senior" implies that the person has at least 5 years experience in the field rather than someone who is jumping over from another field. So you should state that in your advertisement.

Having worked with a senior technical writer who had difficulty with the "technical" part, I would also add a requirement that the person has, at some point, done something that demonstrates the level of technical knowledge required for the job. For example, for software, I would want the person to have set up a test environment in past jobs that he/she could use during the documentation process. For electronics, you better be able to read the schematics and engineering diagrams.

Diane "I read C" Brennan
Programming Writer


John Posada <jposada01 -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
> I am attempting to recruit a "senior" technical
> writer. I am finding people who respond to my job
> announcements who have accomplished all sorts of
> things and claim to be technical writers so that they can
> be hired by my company.

You aren't hiring a senior technical writer. You aren't hiring a
technical writer. You are hiring sonmeone who can do what you want at
the level that you want it.

Be very specific about what you want in the applicant. You want
someone who has created, from scratch, X types of documentation, with
X skill sets, using X tools, for X years.

Example: Looking for someone with a Computer Science degree who can
read code and has a minimum of 7 years of writing expereince creating
C-type (either C, C++, C#) API documentation using Framemaker.

Be specific. You're then justified in eliminating anyone who misses
any of the requirememnts.

Example: "Why didn't you hire the applicant who came in yesterday?"
"She couldn't read C"



John Posada
Senior Technical Writer

"I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you've never actually known what the question is."
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