Customer Reviews

Writing a Professional Life: Stories of Technical Communicators On and Off the Job (Part of the Allyn & Bacon Series in Technical Communication)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a collection of 23 essays divided into three sections: "Initiation Stories," "The Process," and "Life On and Off the Job." Each section contains six to nine essays written by technical communicators at various stages in their careers. These vignettes touch on ethics, organizational dynamics, content, tools, business communications, and communication issues among others. This text will prove most useful to the prospective technical communicator who may not have any previous experience or concept of what the job entails. This text might also prove useful to novice technical communicators as the stories offer advice through humor, moralistic tales, `horror' stories with happy endings, and explicit and implicit advice. Each selection is preceded by a brief biography to give a more human focus to the stories. While the text might prove useful and comforting for new or prospective technical communicators, readers who have more experience with technical communication might not find the text as useful. This text is part of the Allyn & Bacon Series in Technical Communication, and as such is probably most appealing to students and educators involved in academic programs focused on technical writing rather than the practicing technical writers in industry.

This book defines what technical communicators do on the job.
This book will appeal to teachers, possible future technical writers, and generally anyone interested in technical communication. The realistic narratives offer valuable insight into defining technical communication employment from a technical communicator's point-of-view. As beginners in the field of TC, the text offers various definitions of TC and provides examples of common problems encountered in the field. The three sections of the book are divided into portions depending on work experience. This is helpful because comparisons are available regarding TC beginners and seasoned veterans along with those in between. Problems covered in the text include: Power struggles between co-workers, technology inadequacies, struggles for TC job definitions and authority within the organization, adapting to the organizational culture, coping with the perils of consulting vs. salaried positions, positive and negative collaboration, finding a voice and respectability within a corporation, and gaining recognition in said corporation.
Overall an excellent read answering many questions posed by beginning technical communicators.

As the author of one of the twenty-three narratives that appear in this book, I would like to explain what I think its purpose, its role, might be. Not many people outside the industry know what a technical writer is or what he or she does for a living. This book explains that and more. It illustrates, using cleverly disguised real-world examples, what work -- and life -- is like for a technical writer. The stories are excellent depictions of life in the field, and I can honestly recommend this book to anyone who might want to know about or might want to become a technical writer. This text is an excellent source for students.

The book " Writing a Professional Life," by Gerald L. Savage and Dale L. Sullivan, attempts to define technical communication with a narrative structure to students and people with an interest in becoming technical communicators. With a collection of narrative stories, the book is very helpful representing and teaching the field of technical communication through experience. The authors of the narrative stories carry similar characteristics to that of the audience, as well as reflect the ideas and mindset of the audience. In addition, the writing reflects the authors' personalities. The book's organization of different sections parallels and correlates to the field of technical communication. By addressing the following concepts:

· Technical problems (e.g., software)
· Workplace concerns
· Off the job interferences/life issues
· Interpersonal skills
· Communication between different fields/professions
(e.g., communication with people who have different
knowledge base)
· Defining technical communication

The rating for this book agreed upon by our collaborative review team from the Texas Tech University class of Foundations in Technical Communication was 4 stars.

The Savage and Sullivan book served a basic purpose of introducing Technical Communicators to the field of TC and to some of the opportunities and problems encountered by average technical communication positions. It was a personal look into the life of TC people, providing an awareness of some of the issues that a TCer may encounter and some approaches to solving the problems if they arise.

The intended audience appeared to be TC students who have never had on-the-job experience or who are trying to decide whether or not to do TC, as well as those already in TC who might gain from having insight into how other TCers operate. The book can be appreciated most by those already working in the field. They will be able to relate to the story real time...It's kind of a "this is what you can expect" book...not a typical text book.

The book isn't designed to teach TC, but give a flavor of the TC life. There were no obvious typos and the language from the individual writers did not prove to be a stumbling block. It kept moving well. The book is nontechnical, even popular in style, with articles well written (understandable) and well organized (related to the section theme).

"What exactly does a technical writer do?" In Writing A Professional Life-Stories of Technical Communicators On and Off the Job, twenty-three 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. Editor Dale S. 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 emails, 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. In 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 earning 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 twenty 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 need a reality check. You'll definitely find it in this collection.

The anecdotes in this book were written, I believe, by people who love their careers as technical communicators. Mine contains a comparison between writing in-house for a hi-tech company and working for a sub-contractor. I hope it helps fledglings skip over some of the worst mistakes, while giving them useful tips.

This book is a must for all students in technical writing programs and anybody thinking about entering the field of technical writing.

Before I read this book I couldn't understand how anyone could actually enjoy technical writing. After reading it, I realized the enjoyment must come from the money made from the product. There isn't another rational explanation. The Bible describes this type of behavior in depth.