Getting Content from SMEs

Differing interests

Since looking for work these past few months (haven't many of us?) in Silicon Valley, I've noticed that many of the technical writing job descriptions are very narrow and specific about what technical expertise the writer must have. It appears that a merge is taking place between SMEs and writers. The market seems to be saying that technical writers must now be both. A lot of writers don't have vastly technical backgrounds. Many have degrees in English, journalism, or history. They have been taught to think clearly, and write in a logical and orderly fashion. The technical jargon tossed about freely by engineering sounds strange to many of them. Not only that, but the vocabulary seems to be in a constant state of change and it becomes so easy to get lost in the Sea of Acronyms.

Does this mean that it's hopeless for the non-techie types to land technical writing jobs? No. There are companies that feel that a programming degree and experience is not necessary for technical writers. Such companies might feel that a technical writer who knows how to work with and get information from SMEs will work for less money than a SME. Such a company might feel that the writer's value is not so much in having the technical expertise but in being able to get information from SMEs and turn that information into well-organized and understandable text.

SMEs are usually not so interested in making good-looking documents as they are in getting their own jobs done. SMEs are not allocated a lot of time to work with technical writers and they may get irritated when they have to talk to writers. Once that happens, the information flow really breaks down. If you see such a breakdown early on in a project, it probably indicates that the SME has had a bad experience with another writer in the past. You'll find yourself working to convince such an SME that you know what you are doing and that you are there to help, not to get in the way.