atw: How much of our expertise are we willing to pass on?

We are in an interesting position aren't we?
 
Generally technical writing is not a "growing field" here in Australia.
Anyway this email isn't going into the why's and wherefores of that. We
have some structural issues surrounding our field however - and one is
new people entering the fraternity with the basic skills and the
enthusiasm to stay with the career path. Training and mentoring is
important to consider here, there are no pathways supplying us with
graduates from the educational institutions to take up the cudgels when
so many of the senior people I know in our fraternity have started to
retire. 
 
So I have been in the envious position of having to train and supervise
some staff in basic technical writing principles. But to what extent? at
one location where they wanted technical writing and graphic design
services, the project managers didn't want to book the time to their
projects (usually because they had gone over budget) so it became an
issue where I eventually tidied up everything and decided to leave - I
was bored basically. Upon announcing I was leaving I had one of the
engineers direct me to train the secretary to use Photoshop in order to
generate CD labels. I refused. Why? Because he had previously refused to
allow me to charge to the business division those services, which
required considerable skills and learning yet wanted something anyway.
It was prostituting the skills to teach someone who had limited
understanding and skills to start with (who had also explained she had
no desire to learn it). I explained that I would instruct but at the
market rate for Photoshop training - in excess of $2k per day - how much
did it mean? Not much as they refused. In other circumstances, I have
trained juniors about intricacies of MS Word, teaching them about
styles, field codes and other items to make them better at their jobs.
They never had notions of becoming technical writers, but by giving them
assistance I have value added to them, given them more tools, and made
them better skilled to work. 
 
However, for those who want to be technical writers, then why should we
hold them back? If we see there is potential in the person, and they are
keen, why shouldn't we provide them the mentoring and notional training
to assist them become better as people, and employable as technical
writers. What a joy that is, and training forces the teacher to better
understand what they do. I was mentored by two people extensively and
have received heaps of good advice from all of you here at different
times. At the end of the day, we owe it to ourselves to select and give
back to the industry and fraternity what we have been fortunate enough
to have gained. 
 
I recently read a story in Climb, Australia's climbing magazine about
two young blokes called Ben and Lee Cossey. The two brothers were barely
out of nappies when my climbing partner Tim and I caught up with them
one afternoon at Mount Arapiles. They were hanging around with some
pretty ugly characters and were getting the wrong impression about how
to take climbing. It's serious, but is a thing you must be chilled with
to really get the benefit. Tim and I were just climbing for fun, we
loved it and still do. Tim climbed a route that the boys were struggling
with and cranky about (clearly even then not their naturally born
nature); while I belayed - I could never have climbed that route; I
wasn't good enough. The boys and I watched enraptured by Tim's on-site
of a very difficult route while having a heap of laughs (he nearly fell
off while he and I were having a "craic") with me below. I commented to
the boys that you don't have to be serious about it all, just enjoy it
while you can. They both commented in the article about how they learned
to enjoy climbing. They have both since climbed and are respected
worldwide at a far higher level than Tim or I ever will.
 
For Tim and I, the fact that we partly showed them how to love life and
climbing, and that they took it to heart, is as important to us as if we
had climbed at that level ourselves. Because we didn't diss them and pay
them out, they have become an inspiration to us and many many others -
worldwide. We played a small part. 
 
It is not what you take when you leave - it is what you leave behind
that matters. Think legacy, not primacy.
 
Regards,

Warren

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