Breaking the Sound Barrier  

I love my job but don’t feel the managers think it’s important, partly because of the noise. I also sometimes feel that I’m just an ISO requirement. I’ve also heard from techs that customers don’t look at the manuals; they just put them on a shelf. Any thoughts?

Alroy, Faye. Intercom (2003). Careers>Workplace>Writing>Technical Writing

Coming into the Workplace: What Every Technical Communicator Should Know—Besides Writing  

Working successfully as a technical communicator involves a great deal more than a thorough knowledge of professional skills and capability in the craft. Working at this kind of job means dealing with all sorts of people, handling all sorts of assignments and dealing with all sorts of corporate agendas and requirements that have seemingly little to do with getting the project out the door. But it’s all in a day’s work, and if you want to keep the job, you’ve got to accept and actually operate within all of those guidelines, strictures, rules (written and unwritten) and mores that make up the corporate structure.

Barker, Thomas, Rebecca A. Fuller, Deborah J. Rosenquist, John Schladen and Thea Teich. STC Proceedings (1995). Careers>Workplace>Writing>Technical Writing

Listen, Observe, Speak

When you are a speaker, you communicate. When you are the audience, you communicate. As a member of the development team, the technical writer has to deal with hundreds of intelligent egos. There are the programmers who think only about solutions and technology (not about people and their emotions). A technical writer would definitely feel hurt, when developers talk down to him. Managers on the other hand are likely to have oodles of people skills and may not have technical skills. Therefore, they may talk nicely to you. Nevertheless, a technical writer may feel that managers do not appreciate his technical skills.

Kamath, Gurudutt R. IT People (2002). Careers>Writing>Technical Writing>Workplace

A Tale of Two Weeks: A Good Start on a New Job  

Many articles discuss how to hire a great writer, but relatively few tell us what to do when we get one. The first weeks on a new job set the tone for a writer's experience at a company. If both manager and writer pay attention to getting a good start, the result will be that the writer settles in, feels welcome and at ease, and becomes productive quickly.

Brown, Dennise C. STC Proceedings (1993). Careers>Writing>Technical Writing>Workplace