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Subject:Re: Information Engineer From:Daniel Wise <dewise -at- IX -dot- NETCOM -dot- COM> Date:Sat, 31 May 1997 01:37:43 -0500
Colleagues,
In many companies (maybe not in the 'puter industry) the title *engineer*
cannot be used unless the person holds a degree in a recognized field of
engineering from an accredited engineering school. In certain legal senses,
the title cannot be used unless the individual is a registered professional
engineer. Where does that leave us technical writers.
I have always viewed documentation specialists, information engineers, etc.,
as subsets of technical writer (or communicator). We may be working with
media other than papayrus scrolls and parchment, but essentially we still
perform the same tasks we have always performed. We write, we edit, we
proofread (oh really?), we design, we coordinate, we supervise support
personnel, we produce, we publish, we cuss and swear when all else fails.
Whether we chisel in stone or inscribe on an electronic disc, we still do
these things.
Whether we document software, write procedures for hardware, create Web
pages, document engineering designs, prepare proposals, write about
technical subjects for the popular press, or create paid-space advertising,
we are still subsets of the overall technical communication field.
I know people who don't want to be called technical writer because they say
they haven't written a *technical* in their entire career. [That's a joke,
in case you didn't catch it.] I have been called a lot of things, some of
them even sort of kind, in my career. Sometimes the titles even came close
to describing what I did for a living. In the end, it didn't really make
much difference. The pay was the same, the work was the same, and I was
able to set aside a little for my old age.
Have things changed so much today?
Dan Wise
dewise -at- ix -dot- netcom -dot- com
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