9 posts tagged with "Opinion"

When hiring a technical writer not everybody searches for the same skill set. Choosing the right candidate is often more complex than simply finding somebody to deliver the currently pressing tasks.

It's fine to look for the particular skill set for the specific task, but it does point to a lack of foresight. How the role might evolve in the future, if the scope will change, or whether it will shift more towards leading and hiring others.

I find it helpful to keep a mental model of specializations within the discipline of technical writing. This helps in getting the core capabilities that most or all of these sub-specializations need to possess, so you can then test for them during the hiring process.

You can:

1. Let it fester inside and slowly kill you. Be a man, grit your teeth and take it.
2. Frantically search for jobs at all times until your checking of LinkedIn turns into therapy through social media every time you have a bad experience at work.
3. Change the paradigm. Stop expecting a tap on the back when you think you did your job well. They probably don't even think about whether you did or did not do anything.

You reading these blogs already shows initiative. To learn, to grow.

Already excellent—not everybody has it by nature. Some of us had to be coerced into being ambitious or wanting more.

I am firm believer that most people do not yearn for yachts and walks of fame—just stability and peace of mind. I know I do, but to the natural builders—all the admiration and appreciation, you make the world move. I think I ended up as one of you due to education, necessity, and a little bit chance.

Now that this is out of the way, let's address the AI-generated elephant in the room. Job searches have become an incessant, shameless, self-promoting part-time jobs. Full-time even.

Working with developers in a docs-as-code environment can lead to some undesired and time-wasteful consequences.

I've always pondered our definition of human intelligence. Civilization even. A definition that I like is—our ability to manipulate our environment.

Tech keeps you capable. Art keeps you sane.

Something weird is happening in tech.

The people who build the apps, configure the notifications, and automate everything they can—are the same people turning it all off.

What are the most important aspects of being a technical writer?

Sometimes, you just need to write it down.