I appeal to all my dear writer friends to be patient till you read the end of this mail and then may reply whatsoever. The reason for writing this mail is to put forth few real excerpts and insights that we face and come across in our professional life. Please note that this is not to hurt anyone but to understand where we are in terms of developing our nation as a whole.

I will start this discussion with a famous proverb “United We Stand and Divided We Fall”. Though this proverb has nothing do with our unity or interpersonal relationships, a piece of thought can be extracted from it to compare deadlines.

A documentation project needs to undergo different phases of DDLC to roll out a reliable and error free documentation. While a majority of us still think that requirements with necessary product updates and tool knowledge are the forte for technical documentation, we still undermine the effects of project plan involved in the project.

Over the years, if there is one factor that everyone dislikes in their work is – “feedback”. This could be in the form of comments given by your peers on your work, weekly brainstorming meetings, client remarks etc. Though negative feedback is hard to digest, the need for positive feedback is causing imbalance in the careers of Technical Writers. I understand that there are different levels of professionals reading this mail, but it is the responsibility on each of us to see that the young generation is satisfied by their effort to keep the writing profession alive.

Not many readers would believe that the essence of writing and living is nothing but the usage of 5Ws and 1H. Should you not compromise with this truth, here is the small scenario how these things can really create an impact as you grow and exercise yourself towards technical writing.
In a small survey that I conducted in the recent past, successful writers have always answered one fact – the litmus test in technical writing is not the fear of writing grammatically incorrect but the challenge of writing technically incorrect.

The future is on brink while it is adaptable to most cases in a mixed economy like India. As we say and write that top notch outsourcing companies of US and UK have improved the economy of our country, it might not be a fact in the near future. The opportunities in technical writing seem to increase in India presently but shall not be same with many of the developed nations suffering from the wrath of recession.

It is dawn and the play begins with numerous challenges and continues till dusk. Gone are the days where we need to purchase different tools to create a single deliverable. We are currently living in the age of automated documentation. Till yesterday in the technical front, we found that our march towards development were pulled back if were to use different tools from different companies to make things happen. To speak from the deepest of our hearts, Madcap is a boon for all writers who till the recent past wore their thinking caps to facilitate simpler methods of documentation.

After the enthralling episode of Satyam, it has created enough doubts in the minds of the IT generation about their future and the importance of risk management initiatives. Well, it is not the right time to talk about Ramalinga Raju & Co. but as entrepreneurs, we have to look ahead in combating the tough situations and rise out of the difficulties when issues keep pulling us down. I guess a lot of us would be considering how this post is related to all of us, but things can change dramatically in the IT sector.

I have a genuine doubt regarding the future of Technical Writing industry. Since TW has different flavours in terms of end-user documentation, what would be preference of a Technical Writer who is well versed in atleast 6 types. In other words, may I know if a multitalented technical writer is preferred in comparision to a specific domain TW during interviews.

Hi,

Can anyone give me the designation levels for technical writers in a company. For example in software development, the designations are:
Software Engineer Trainee
Software Engineer
Senior Software Engineer
Project Lead
Team Lead
Project Manager
Vice President

In the same manner, what would be ideal levels for a tech. writer.