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Subject:RE: âWhat we need is a developer who can write.â From:"Janoff, Steven" <Steven -dot- Janoff -at- hologic -dot- com> To:Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>, TECHWR-L Writing <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 14 Oct 2015 23:30:53 +0000
No question subject matter expertise can take you far in this career. And I'm not knocking that at all, believe me. Quite the opposite - it could be the most important skill you develop. It's the bread and butter of writing.
But on the other hand, I think of that as being part of what Craig means when he says, "Let's take it as a given that as technical writers, we can write."
The more interesting thing to me is how you present the information. That has more opportunity for variety and creativity, I feel.
It's possible that everything's already been said and done about this. But I don't know, and I still find myself thinking about this stuff, a lot.
Steve
On Wednesday, October 14, 2015 1:30 AM, Robert Lauriston wrote:
Most of a technical writer's job is researching the technology we need to write about. That subject matter is constantly changing (or they wouldn't need us). I don't need to worry about what I'll have to learn in five or ten years, I'm too busy learning what I need to know in the next few weeks or months.
The skills required to do that are the same as they were 15 years ago and as they will be 15 years from now. Learning one language or tagging system is much like learning another. It's rare that something new comes along that isn't largely composed of familiar ideas.
On Tue, Oct 13, 2015 at 7:09 PM, Janoff, Steven <Steven -dot- Janoff -at- hologic -dot- com> wrote:
> Per the OP:
>
> "Letâs take it as a given that as technical writers, we can write.
> To increase our value, we need to learn addition skills, such as a programming language.
> What other skills do you all have?"
>
> Steve
>
>
> On Monday, October 12, 2015 11:19 PM, Robert Lauriston wrote:
>
> Most of the skills a technical writer needs today are the same as they were 15 years ago and will remain essential to the job until the products are smart enough to explain themselves.
>
>
> On Mon, Oct 12, 2015 at 6:52 PM, Janoff, Steven <Steven -dot- Janoff -at- hologic -dot- com> wrote:
>> To be honest, the only skills I'm interested in are the ones in demand today, and looking into the next 5-10 years.
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