Re: Ranking Criteria for Writers

[Mike Starr <mike -dot- starr -at- PLATINUM -dot- COM>]

Hello, Cyd,

You said:
>>For instance, what achievable guidelines might be designated for
positions such as the following:

Associate (or Junior) Writer
Technical Writer I           (What other titles
Technical Writer II          might be used here?)
Senior Writer<<

I have an interesting perspective on that. I was working for a software company
and had been there for about two years and it was decided that the titles and
job descriptions needed to be formalized. Prior to this, everybody was just
"Technical Writer" but in in true bureaucratic fashion, it was determined that
we needed to have categories similar to those you described. The new job titles
were (I think):

Technical Communicator Intern
Technical Communicator I
Technical Communicator II
Technical Communicator III

At the time, I had been with the company for two years and had authored several
significant documents and had all together about ten years of experience as a
technical writer, so I felt that I deserved the most senior title (Technical
Communicator III). Well, as it came to pass, the job descriptions were written
in such a way that nobody at our office could qualify for the position of
Technical Communicator III because one of the qualifications required for that
position was that one had to have presented a paper at a professional
conference or been published in a professional journal. Because of this, I was
told I would be ranked as a Technical Communicator II. Another requirement for
all three numbered job titles was that the person must have a bachelor's
degree, which I do not hold. I have two Associate Degrees. So, I retorted that
in view of the company's strict adherance to the job description, I must
therefore be a Technical Communicator Intern and I adopted that as my title
from then on. I guess that didn't earn me any brownie points since we parted
company not too long after that but I still occasionally refer to my self as
Intern and when I was going to set up my own consulting company (which never
really came to pass), one of the names I considered for the company was Intern
Enterprises.

The way I look at it, I was fully qualified by my skills and experience and
productivity to be ranked at the highest level and the kind of niggling
adherance to artificial standards only served to alienate me and others who
were in similar situations (there were several others there who should also
have been ranked at the highest level but weren't).

I guess the main thrust of my blathering on with this is that you need to
carefully consider the rigidity of the standards before you implement them. I'm
old enough and successful enough as a technical writer that I'm not ever going
to go back to school just to get my ticket punched and earn a Bachelor's
degree. I'm damned good at what I do and I'm well paid and I don't have any
ambitions for a management position, so it's just not in my self interest to
get that degree. I'll keep on learning the rest of my life but at many
organizations, I wouldn't even be considered for a position as an entry-level
technical writer. And, to tell you the truth, I don't think I'd want to work
for a company that was that hidebound about "paper" qualifications.


Mike Starr

BTW, my title is now Senior Technical Writer but only because they wouldn't let
me have "Chief in charge of Words and Pictures".

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