Re: Titles

[Scott McClare <smcclare -at- DY4 -dot- COM>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert Maxey [SMTP:Bob_Maxey -at- MTN -dot- 3COM -dot- COM]
> Sent: Friday, January 08, 1999 3:03 PM
> To:   TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject:      Titles
>
>How about the term "Writer." Why bother to add some pompous
>title, when all the information the prospective employer needs
>in the resume?

Well, for starters, my resume isn't the only place where I would use a
title; there's my business card and my email .signature, for starters.
Also, if I need to deal with someone who doesn't know me, I might want to
identify myself as more than "Scott" on the phone.  None of these situations
are conducive to my rattling off a job description or my curriculum vitae in
order to "fill in the blanks" telling my audience what I do.

Furthermore, you provide the following compelling reason:

>Someone who writes Barbecue Cookbooks is working in the
>field of Technical Barbecue Science and Application, but I
>would not think that a writer of cookbooks is a Technical Writer,
>even though they specialize in one specific area.

Then I will continue to call myself a technical writer on the grounds that
it distinguishes me from those who write cookbooks.

Of course, we don't deal in culinary matters here, so it's more important
that my self-description distinguishes what I do from what the marketing or
public relations writers do.  (I have nothing against what they do, of
course, but it's not what I do.)

Take care,

Scott

--
Scott McClare - Technical Writer
DY 4 Systems Inc., Kanata, Ontario, Canada
(613) 599-9199 x502 smcclare -at- dy4 -dot- com
Opinions are my own

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