companies often vanish
reason: no further innovation; not looking at tomorrow
avoid "what happened?" scenario
Overview of my argument
Technology is getting more specialized/complex.
This complexity drives up the value of technical knowledge, making it more prized than writing skills.
To handle the complexity, technical writers must play increasingly collaborative roles with engineers to create documentation
grey's argument: companies hiring UX, not TW
actually, UX can champion TW inclusion
UX might just be one aspect/role among many
BLS data shows TW slightly growing
growth rates between engineers & TWs not same (24% versus 11%)
growing number of engineers to support
most agree the role is evolving
given tech flux, impossible not to agree
no clear idea of what, though
need data to support assertions about change
job ads as an ingenious way to infer trends
Brumberger and Lauer study: 1,000 ads, 2013
breadth of TC is much more than TW
social media influence -- multichannel, brand
subject matter familiarity discussion - 45%
mobility of a generalist to pivot careers
multiple specializations, esp. strategic overlap
study done in 2003, more on entry level
subject-matter familiarity 34%
not a new trend -- constant criteria
dilemma re generalist vs specialist advantages
hiring dilemma - which has more value
hybridization used to compensate for low-value of writing
writer is word technician only, not analysis, intellect, strategy
writing is complementary skill only
greek roots of craft
law of supply and demand with knowledge in enterprise
TWs not specialists in valuable area
from single vendor all-in-one systems to multiple systems
proliferation of javascript frameworks
APIs from diff. companies/purposes interacting together in untested ways
hyperspecialization
paradox of tech - simpler on frontend, more complex underneath
google home page -- 73 pages of code
natural langauge processing with alexa inteactions
depends which user you're writing for -- if end users, maybe tech is getting simpler
virtual chat survey in 2007
time you should devote (30-60+ min.) versus time you actually devote (20 min)
not elbow deep in code like developers all day
can't write without knowledge.
your superpower becomes crippled.
neiman: no way to do API doc without strong engineering bg
neiman: convert code samples from 1 lang to another
neiman: 15 min. conversation only, get all details right
rhea: "adequate knowledge only" -- diminishing returns after that
more resources? here's the Lean-in model
problems with having engineers write: not my job
developer involvement falls on a spectrum
what engineers are good at writing - reference, code
tech writer adds information usability
this is the specialization of the writing process
shift towards docs as code tools
Questions?
Resume presentation
Tech comm trends
Providing value as a generalist in a sea of specialists
By Tom Johnson / @tomjohnson
idratherbewriting.com
Slides: idratherbewriting.com/trends-collaboration-with-engineers
Presentation in blog form: http://bit.ly/trendscollabwithengineers
