Identity Crisis

[kerravonsen]

Well. I am no longer who I thought I was; I have been reclassified: I am not a programmer.

No, I haven't lost my job. I may have mentioned that I've been doing documentation the last several months, which I took to be a thing of them not having confidence in my programming abilities. Well...

Now it seems that Management have been thinking about how to restructure the company, and moving people around into four "divisions" with somewhat more well-defined focus (probably needed as the company has been getting bigger). Originally we were basically just "Development" and "Support", but now it's "Research", "Technology", "Products" and "Support". And me, the odd one out. Yes, they still want me, but not to do programming: I am now the Document Writer Of The Company, in charge of manuals, brochures ("product literature for customers"), and the company website. We haven't actually had anybody before whose specific job was documenting -- which of course meant that, as usual for software, the documenting tended to come as an afterthought. But now it seems that they want me to do it because I'm good at it, and it is true that it's probably harder to find a good technical writer than it is to find a good programmer, because one has to be able to be a good enough programmer to understand the programs one is documenting, and a good enough communicator so as to spread enlightenment in text form.

The restructure is coming into action on Monday, with various people moving around to different offices (including me). Ironically, I'm back in my old cubbyhole downstairs. Anyway, my "new" position is now, as I said, Documentation, and I don't actually come underneath any one division, so they plonked me under the "Research" division (which means that I still have the same manager, which is good).

Of course there's a little negative voice which wants to say "see, you're hopeless as a programmer" but let's be honest here, I'm not a hotshot programmer. I'm good, but I'm not that good. Wheras I know that I am good at documentation, good at making things clear, good at being precise. And it will be good to do things that are crying out to be done properly at last.

My chief fear/worry on that front is the "product literature for customers": I don't want to be a marketroid!

On the upside, it just occurred to me, there's got to be less stress in documentation because documents don't have BUGS! They have errors, sure, and while that is, strictly speaking, a "documentation bug", the correction of such bugs is trivial and straightforward compared to trying to track down why this $@#&%^$ program isn't behaving correctly.

And it's not like I'm going to stop programming; I'll just be doing it as a hobby instead of a profession. I wonder if that means that I'll have to change my "occupation" when filling out forms? Of course, the sad thing is that "Technical Writer" has less apparent status, from what I've seen. On the other hand, who am I trying to impress, eh?

Comments

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

That's the job I want! Lucky you. :-D

[kerravonsen]

Really? You'd rather be documenting than programming?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Now, yes, though I once would have sworn I'd never say that. I've done a lot in various jobs and enjoyed it, and it was well-received too. I want a change but it's so hard to break into a new area if you've never done it full-time.

[kerravonsen]

Contracting is probably doubly hard, because what they want in contractors is instant expertise in some specific area for a limited amount of time, wheras regular employees, if they're working in a good company, the company is sensible enough to give them time to learn up on new skills if they're needed.

{hug}

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I hope that your new role goes well.

[kerravonsen]

Thanks.

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Wow. I hope you're going to enjoy this, because I think it may be an excellent move. If your bosses are savvy people, then it means they have confidence in your skills; you want qualified people doing those things which make up your 'public face', of which documentation is one. It's also something good to put on your resume if you need or want to change companies in the future.

I hope this works out well. :)

[kerravonsen]

If your bosses are savvy people, then it means they have confidence in your skills; you want qualified people doing those things which make up your 'public face', of which documentation is one.

Good point. It's not like they want someone incompetent presenting the company image to the world...

It's also something good to put on your resume if you need or want to change companies in the future.

Heh, I probably can't even find my old resume. I probably haven't updated it in fifteen years...

I hope this works out well.

Thank you.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Well, it sounds like good news for the users to me, if they're now getting someone specifically dedicated to their enlightenment, especially someone more interested in enlightenment than marketing. So I hope it's satisfying for you, too.

[kerravonsen]

Thank you. 8-)

My worry about marketing is twofold:
(1) that my bosses may want me to be deceptive, and I just don't do spin, sorry. On that level, I'm one of the worst people they could have picked to do that stuff. Sorry, but I won't sell my soul.
(2) Considering that, from the client's point of view, the purpose of a website or a brochure is to help them determine whether or not the product is what they need, I fear that, though communication is my aim, I don't acutally know how to speak the language that the client understands. I can speak Technical fluently, and that is what I would be speaking in the writing of manuals. However, I don't really wish to speak Marketingese -- but I don't even know Businessese/Managerese, which is what the (potential) client will be speaking.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

that my bosses may want me to be deceptive, and I just don't do spin, sorry. On that level, I'm one of the worst people they could have picked to do that stuff.

They've got to know that, surely? Anyone who knows anything about you must be able to work that out.

And you do speak plain English, which I think is the most useful form of communication.

Hey, has any extra money been mentioned in all this reshuffling?

[kerravonsen]

They've got to know that, surely? Anyone who knows anything about you must be able to work that out.

True, though my immediate manager joked about "learning how to lie" -- but he's a technical person like me, so that was probably his own contempt for Marketroid-speak. Which means he's not going to be able to teach me how to speak Businessese either.

Hey, has any extra money been mentioned in all this reshuffling?

No, but I'm just grateful to still be employed. (Did I mention I have a problem with low self-esteem?)

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I think we all do, round here. I swing between "they have to get rid of me, I'm too slow" to "but then they would end up with the errors that my slow, obsessive checking weeds out". But in your case it really does sound as if (a) they've spotted a niche that needs filling, and (b) they've realised they have the right person to fill it.

Oh well, I suspected extra money would be too good to be true. I'm given ever-grander job titles, but they never relate to any change in what I'm actually doing (though that has evolved over the years) or dramatic pay rises (though that also rises steadily year by year). Somebody did explain to me once that grander job titles enhanced the company's status.

[kerravonsen]

But in your case it really does sound as if (a) they've spotted a niche that needs filling, and (b) they've realised they have the right person to fill it.

I hope so.

Somebody did explain to me once that grander job titles enhanced the company's status.

LOL!

Yeah, and we've had laughs in the past, back when the company was smaller and there were only two people involved in company "administration and personel", when there would be these letters addressed to all these grand titles that we didn't have. Unfortunately it looks like Managerese is being spoken more and more around our work...

This also reminds me of the opposite aphorism, that the shorter the company name, the more important it is (IBM, BT, Ford and so on) The corollory is that the longer the company name, the less important it is.

Technical Writer

[(Anonymous)]

It's all in the genes. Half the people in our family are technical writers. If God made us all like that, we might as well go with the flow and do what we do best.
David

Re: Technical Writer

[kerravonsen]

Oh you did manage to comment after all! Yay!

Though I hadn't really considered that Bible translation or commentary is "technical" writing, is it? Non-fiction, though.