A Technical Writer with Extra Privileges? Responding to a Question about Roles (Videocast)
Listen here:
Jim from Iowa writes:
I was doing some career research involving technical writing and stumbled upon your website. I had a question about that sort of thing, and you seem like a good person to ask. To be frank, I have two main interests--writing and technology. I love to read and write, but I also love engineering, working with computers, etc. So, I guess at this point, one would say technical writing is the logical career choice. Yeah ... but I'm not sure if that would satisfy my tech cravings. I realize you've mentioned things along this line in your previous posts. But let me explain a little further ....
Let's say I get schooling in engineering and, say, English. Would I be able to be a technical writer who also had some extra privileges? And by that I mean helping with the design process, helping with whatever problem is trying to be solved or whatever item is trying to be created, etc. What do you think?
Thanks,
Jim
Thanks for submitting your question, Jim. I responded in a videocast below.
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About Tom Johnson
I'm an API technical writer based in the Seattle area. On this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, AI, information architecture, content strategy, writing processes, agent skills, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my AI courses for more on the latest in AI and tech comm. If you're looking for info about documenting APIs, see my API documentation course.
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Finally, I want to note a couple of things. I usually write the first drafts of my posts myself and then use AI to improve accuracy, clarity, and detail in places, so my writing is a mix of human and AI. (Hopefully that's not too off-putting.) Also, the opinions I express on my blog are my own perspectives, not those of my employer.