Writing a Professional Life-Stories of Technical Communicators
On and Off the Job
Gerald J. Savage and Dale L. Sullivan, Editors
Copyright 2001 by Allyn & Bacon
192 pp.
"What exactly does a technical writer do?" How many times
have you heard that question? In Writing a Professional Life-Stories
of Technical Communicators On and Off the Job, 23 technical communicators
discuss how they came to the profession, the daily challenges they face,
and life beyond the job.
Writing a Professional Life-Stories of Technical Communicators On
and Off the Job was published in 2001 by Allyn & Bacon as part
of their Series in Technical Communication. Editor Dale L. Sullivan
conceived the idea for the book as a teaching tool for his undergraduate
technical communication students at Michigan Technological University.
Until this collection, there was no publication detailing technical
communication from the professional's perspective, and Dale was having
a difficult time selling the major to his students. He thought a group
of narratives written by the people who actually do the work would be
better than anything he could come up with. After putting out a "call
for stories" through the Milwaukee STC, many e-mail messages, meetings,
and phone calls, his idea became a reality.
These informative and entertaining narratives comprise three parts:
In "Part 1, Initiation Stories," we meet several newcomers
to technical communication. "Part 2, The Process" introduces
us to seasoned technical communicators firmly entrenched in the daily
processes of the profession. In "Part 3, Life On and Off the Job,"
we meet technical communicators with varied cultural and intellectual
interests. Writing a Professional Life also has a topical contents
that reads like an index of the challenges and concerns technical communicators
face daily, from office politics, collaboration and teamwork, and gender
issues to process-centered topics like draft review, GUI design, and
software documentation.
I was fascinated to read about people so much like me. The first narrative
I read, "What a Life," was written by a technical writer living
in Ann Arbor, Michigan, my hometown. She, too, was the first person
in her family to graduate from college. Some contributors came to the
profession with a love for literature and writing, but they realized
that making a living as a fiction writer was unlikely at best. They
wanted to earn a living through writing and found technical communication
a solution.
The technical communicator in "Fluff" has been in the profession
long enough to have the mention of his name followed by: "Is he
still alive?" Although he has worked as a contractor for over 20
years and dealt with just about every brand of hostility out there,
he remains committed to this profession because technical communication
is in his marrow; it's not just a job, it's his identity.
In "A Job Like a Tattoo," a newcomer to the profession quickly
learns that in addition to not being greeted by the development team
with open arms, she's faced with outright hostility from a programmer.
She learns how to handle intimidating coworkers and difficult SMEs and
overcomes her original expectations of her job. In "Madame Mao
in the Midwest," we see what can happen at a great job for writers
when incompetent editors and managers are allowed to reign. And in "It's
Not Mark Twain's River Anymore," we see that mutual respect and
support from another writer on the team cannot overcome management's
inability to see writers as important contributors to the company product.
Sometimes you just have to move on.
Some stories are all too familiar, such as not being allowed to participate
in the project until the 11th hour. But hope springs eternal in "Diary
of a Tech Writer," where our hero jumps in at the outset of the
project. She's regarded as an asset and a professional, and she isn't
beneath bribing developers with fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies to
meet deadlines.
This represents only a sampling of the narratives in Writing a Professional
Life. Whether you're a pubs department manager, a lone tech writer
who's new to the profession, or a clueless scribe who stumbled into
technical communication for reasons unknown even to you, you'll be entertained,
informed, and validated by this collection. I immediately recognized
that I was in the company of those who know what a technical writer
does all day. So, the next time someone asks you: "What exactly
does a technical writer do?" point him or her to this volume of
narratives from the experts. Or read it yourself when you simply need
a reality check.
|
