Why engineers should focus on writing
-
All engineers are good writers… of code. But I believe that in order to a become better engineer–you should improve your writing skills.
right?
-
All engineers are good writers… of code. But I believe that in order to a become better engineer–you should improve your writing skills.
right?
-
All engineers are good writers… of code. But I believe that in order to a become better engineer–you should improve your writing skills.
right?
imho, depends on context: you gotta a programmer cranking out valuable code critical to product completion ... you don't send them to writing class; instead you get someone like me to revise/improve the comments or explanations, and, i would want to do that because i know i'd learn from the experience. that happened at software companies i worked at, like Adobe, and Wild-Tangent.
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
-
imho, depends on context: you gotta a programmer cranking out valuable code critical to product completion ... you don't send them to writing class; instead you get someone like me to revise/improve the comments or explanations, and, i would want to do that because i know i'd learn from the experience. that happened at software companies i worked at, like Adobe, and Wild-Tangent.
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
Technical writers have their place, but I have found that the best speakers-to-machines (aka programmers) are also pretty good speakers-to-humans (lecturers, writers, etc.). We've all heard of the genius coders who can't utter a grammatical sentence, but they are more urban legend than reality. Most of the cases are wannabes who believe that if they are surly enough and their code opaque enough, people will believe that they are geniuses. It doesn't work that way. Too many decades ago, when I was in University, I was privileged to hear lectures from some of the luminaries in the Physics world. Contrary to what you might expect, their lectures were usually a model of clarity, and the Q&A after the lectures showed that they really knew what they were talking about.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.
-
Technical writers have their place, but I have found that the best speakers-to-machines (aka programmers) are also pretty good speakers-to-humans (lecturers, writers, etc.). We've all heard of the genius coders who can't utter a grammatical sentence, but they are more urban legend than reality. Most of the cases are wannabes who believe that if they are surly enough and their code opaque enough, people will believe that they are geniuses. It doesn't work that way. Too many decades ago, when I was in University, I was privileged to hear lectures from some of the luminaries in the Physics world. Contrary to what you might expect, their lectures were usually a model of clarity, and the Q&A after the lectures showed that they really knew what they were talking about.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.
hi, daniel, i think you misinterpret my comments. i intended to make no generalization about programmers ability to communicate, or being unable to write effectively ! i described a specific scenario with deadline pressure, and a programmer being focused on mission-critical code ... about the possible value in off-loading required documentation tasks in that context.
Daniel Pfeffer wrote:
genius coders who can't utter a grammatical sentence, but they are more urban legend than reality. Most of the cases are wannabes who believe that if they are surly enough and their code opaque enough, people will believe that they are geniuses.
this sounds like traumatic experiences' ghosts of stereotypes that injured you in some way ... or you observed injured others.
Daniel Pfeffer wrote:
We've all heard of the genius coders who can't utter a grammatical sentence, but they are more urban legend than reality. Most of the cases are wannabes who believe that if they are surly enough and their code opaque enough, people will believe that they are geniuses. It doesn't work that way.
wow: that's bizarre, and i have never seen things in that kind of light except in movies and tv. you have turned my simple, specific, words about what i have seen and experienced into ventilation. :wtf: :) ps: i was a board certified therapist before becoming a card-carrying geek at age 35. i was a {paid) technical editor for Addison-Wesley on two of the major books on .NET/C# 20 years ago; 25 years ago, i was the major author of an Addison-Wesley technical book. now, near age 80, i'm not impressed by such little slices from my 15 minutes of fame ! cheers, bill
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
-
hi, daniel, i think you misinterpret my comments. i intended to make no generalization about programmers ability to communicate, or being unable to write effectively ! i described a specific scenario with deadline pressure, and a programmer being focused on mission-critical code ... about the possible value in off-loading required documentation tasks in that context.
Daniel Pfeffer wrote:
genius coders who can't utter a grammatical sentence, but they are more urban legend than reality. Most of the cases are wannabes who believe that if they are surly enough and their code opaque enough, people will believe that they are geniuses.
this sounds like traumatic experiences' ghosts of stereotypes that injured you in some way ... or you observed injured others.
Daniel Pfeffer wrote:
We've all heard of the genius coders who can't utter a grammatical sentence, but they are more urban legend than reality. Most of the cases are wannabes who believe that if they are surly enough and their code opaque enough, people will believe that they are geniuses. It doesn't work that way.
wow: that's bizarre, and i have never seen things in that kind of light except in movies and tv. you have turned my simple, specific, words about what i have seen and experienced into ventilation. :wtf: :) ps: i was a board certified therapist before becoming a card-carrying geek at age 35. i was a {paid) technical editor for Addison-Wesley on two of the major books on .NET/C# 20 years ago; 25 years ago, i was the major author of an Addison-Wesley technical book. now, near age 80, i'm not impressed by such little slices from my 15 minutes of fame ! cheers, bill
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
My apologies for misunderstanding the context of your words. As for the rest, all I can say is that your experiences differ from mine.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.