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Subject:Re: Tips on Getting Hired From:Jim Barrow <vrfour -at- verizon -dot- net> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Mon, 05 Feb 2007 14:33:35 -0600 (CST)
>John Posadawrote:
>>
>>One of the things I look for in an experienced writer (either for >>a staff position or as a consultant/contractor)is a trait best >>expressed as a lack of ego--I've found that writers who cannot >>divorce their ego from an assignment often do not serve the >>project/employer as well as they might.
>
>Hmm...I have a rather large ego. It is this ego that makes me do >the absolute best I can for everything that I attempt. It's also >what makes me try as hard as I can as my ego doesn't handle >failure very well.
>
>I think it is also what caused me to recently get the highest >review ever given to any here-less-than-a-year employee in this >department for the last several years.
You make a darn good point there, Mr. Posada.
Although anyone who gets so wrapped up in their work that they refuse to let anyone else even offer suggestions for improvement ("pride in ownership") may be setting themselves up for failure, I don't see anything wrong with living up to personal standards.
Usually when I work with a team of tech writers there's always someone in the group who decides that it's okay to "not reinvent the wheel". I agree with this as well, but what usually ends up happening is that this person doesn't want to reuse information where available, they want to cut corners at every turn ("We don't need to list the revisions. Nobody reads them anyway.") No braggadocio intended, but my OCD plus my need to do the best that I can usually leads to a better standard.
Your reference to having a large ego made me think of when I ran for Senior Class President in high school. I was getting my butt kicked in the race, and my opponent delivered a squeaky clean speech ahead of me that was reminiscent of John Kennedy. At the last second I ditched my speech, stood at the podium and looked around. Then I said, "I'm not running for Class President for you people, I'm doing this for myself" (The room was quiet as a church). Then I went into what I would do as president by saying, "Think about it. Don't you work harder when you *want* something as opposed to when you *have* to do something?"
Congratulations on your review. I'm not at all surprised.
- Jim
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