Fear and Loathing in TechWriterWorld

The current disaster agitating the collective Chicken Littles of the technical writing world is the purchase of Macromedia by Adobe. Many feathers are being ruffled, and much running-in-circles is being accomplished.

Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comics, once joined the big technical writing mailing list under a pseudonym. He left the list after a couple of weeks and added new character called "Tina the Brittle Tech Writer" to the Dilbert world. The denizens of the list were outraged, and much fuming and snarking ensued . . . proving that Adams had absolutely nailed the character of Tina.

These days, when someone asks me what I do for a living, I tend to evade the question a bit. "Oh, I work in software." If pressed, I'll name my employer, but it takes a persistent questioner to get me to admit to being a tech writer.

Tech writing. It's not what I am, it's just what I do. [Hangs head in shame.]

Update: In counterpoint to the unsteady manic-depression cycle of tech writing (or insurance sales: see comments), I offer the uplifting tale of training budgets, BOFH style.