I tend to agree with Richard, although I can see Nadine's point.
I'm sure it can be frustrating to feel that you are tasked with "helping"
someone (who is making way more money than you are) with basic language skills.
On the other hand, "we" are all in this together. Products are
designed/created/ tested/documented/marketed/maintained by a TEAM. I was once
tasked with negotiating training costs for a very expensive application simply
because I was a native English speaker. I could have said "not my job", but
didn't. And it turned out to be a great learning experience; I had the
opportunity to work with some folks I might otherwise not have had the chance
to. (And I found out I was a decent negotiator!)
________________________________
From: "Combs, Richard" <richard.co...@polycom.com>
To: Writer <generic...@yahoo.ca>; framers <framers@lists.frameusers.com>
Sent: Friday, October 7, 2011 6:52 AM
Subject: RE: Scary responsibility in job ad
Writer wrote:
> A local company listed this as one of the responsibilities in a job ad
> for a technical writer:
>
> "coach engineers to improve their writing skills"
>
> It makes me laugh and cringe in equal measures.
I'm really surprised at the overwhelmingly negative reaction to this ad.
Coaching engineers is cited as just one of the responsibilities; without seeing
what the others are, I have no opinion of the ad as a whole, but this specific
responsibility certainly doesn't make me laugh, cringe, fear for my future, or
get defensive about my profession.
I'm asked (yes, often by engineers) language/grammar/writing questions fairly
frequently, and in the past when things weren't so busy, I did the occasional
short presentation on some language/writing issue at the end of a team meeting.
These were well received, and I often got follow-up questions.
The engineers I know are intelligent people who understand the value of
communicating clearly. They want to improve their writing skills in order to
communicate more effectively with each other, managers, and other departments
(sales, support, etc.), as well as with me.
IMHO, sharing what I know with people who see the value of learning it makes me
more valuable. And it's rewarding for me, not cringe-inducing.
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richard.co...@polycom.com
303-223-5111
------
rgco...@gmail.com
303-903-6372
------
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