Re: Career Path

[Jane Bergen <janeb -at- ANSWERSOFT -dot- COM>]

On 31 Jan 97 at 13:23, Emily Betters/Shiva Corporati wrote:

> I know I have touched on this subject before, but I want to address
> it in another way.  What is the career path for a technical writer?
> Being new in the field, I am having a hard time understanding it. Do

Emily, why would you think there IS a path? Seems to me that this
list alone shows how many different types of writers, industries,
education, experiences, etc. that people have who call themselves
"technical writers."

> you advance from years experience or number of project releases? Are
> you suppose to excel in one writing tool, or have a working
> knowledge of different types of tools?  I realize it would depend on
> what I want to do.....but I am looking for an industry standard (if
> there is one).

No standard industry, let alone industry standard! Some
software projects might be so complex that they take years to finish,
while other less significant projects might take two days. That's an
apples to oranges comparison.

I have thought for some time that perhaps the term "technical writer"
is waaaaaay too general. Someone writing instructions for operating a
hair dryer has a different set of concerns that someone documenting a
complex mainframe database. And both of those are different than an
editor working on a medical journal. Yet all could call themselves
"technical writers." And they would have very different career paths.

You can tell..it's Friday and I have too much down time
today....sorry. This might be a great topic to research and write an
article for STC, though.... ;-)

Jane Bergen

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 "my opinions are my own..."
 Jane Bergen, Technical Writer
 janeb -at- answersoft -dot- com
 AnswerSoft, Inc.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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