IT Curious? Resources For “Tecchy” Tech Writers

A confession
Periodically, I go through what might be called a situational identity crisis--that is, I find myself working in a capacity that represents a big departure from “tech writing.” I do some basic programming, for example, and wonder “am I still a technical communicator?” Or, at a gathering, someone asks what I do, and after telling them “I’m a technical writer” I answer the standard puzzled look by explaining that I analyse software requirements and code web pages...only to realise that what I’ve said doesn’t sound like technical writing at all, even to me. I spend my days writing stuff, sure, and it’s usually of a technical nature...but my heart gets racing and my eyes light up when I get to do the things that are more “technical” than “communicating.” And professionally, I am increasingly likely to be assigned to (or volunteer for) projects that use my tech writer hat only peripherally to whatever else I am doing--my exhilaration at a nerdy challenge has not gone unnoticed by my boss. Am I a traitor to the Society for Technical Communication cause? I don’t think so, and I suspect that I am not alone.

Filed under: Quality/Six Sigma : Technical Writing