Technical Writer - Kya Kaam Karta?

I always feel piteous, even guilty at the bewildered faces of relatives,

friends and old colleagues; even as I try to explain what I do for a living

and often find myself stuttering, at a loss for words. Then I mostly

downplay what I do, in the process of simplifying, only to confound the

confusion. Well-wishers, if asked of my livelihood or occupation, add fuel

to this. I thought that writing articles on TW would address all that. Has

it?

When I started freelance work by producing technical literature in the

'80s, I had to learn WordStar and Lotus, later PageMaker and CorelDraw

since no "Operator" would touch technical content. And I was forced to

learn AutoCad, to cull out the right stuff for an illustration - infra dig to

the mighty draughtsmen of those days. So whenever anyone could not

understand that I produce all material to launch a new product, some

kindred soul would help out with "He does DTP" or evangelise "He works

with computers." The baffled questioner would look pityingly at me

or grunt "Bass?" And here was this guy with 12 years in corporate

development, marketing and turnkey project management, now on par

with the hundreds crouching behind PCs on the pavements of Bombay

and Baroda!

"Do you ... I mean ... make enough?" would ask a well-wisher. At times I

volunteered that I write and design all the stuff that a salesman gives you

when you are looking at some new equipment, plus all the stuff that

comes out of the box when you are unpacking it. That immediately

brought a contemptuous frown, as if to say "junk!" Yet another charitable

friend took years to forgive me for refusing a 300 Dinar job at Bahrain as

“AutoCad Operator.” Worse, I coached his friend who joined with a

higher pay as “CAD Drawing Checker.”

Several clients discuss a new venture and ask for my inputs. But one

small industrialist, when I got back to him with a skeletal business plan

along with communication proposals and financial calculations, gaped at

the document. Then muttered to compliment my "control over

computers." As I explained that the final business plan document would

cost him about Rs 7500, while the communications came against a rate

card, he was scandalised. Later he called our common friend to ask why I

was taking such interest in his business – was I a competitors’ executive

masquerading as "commercial writer"?

To the ad agencies I was clearly a 'technical copywriter' but when I

showed them how I could also use Corel and Adobe Photoshop to turn

round their visuals, I became 'studio director.' So if the account executive

introduced me to the client as the 'copy guy' the client would ask why I

was messing around the studio? That would have the poor AE stuttering

for the next 10 minutes...

Agency bosses began to introduce me as 'creative consultant' and it

seemed to fit, until a very good paymaster, a big boss in an engineering

group, wanted a product-selection catalogue. Being introduced to me, he

chaffed: "But we don't need any creatives! All we need is a service

document!" On another day I had a call from an ad filmmaker producing

a TV clip for baby care products saying that his scriptwriter had deserted

mid-way, so could I help? Another day, someone asked: "You are an

engineer, your maths must be good. Why don't you also look after Media

Management?"

Meanwhile, I had begun writing on clients' products in the trade press and

found myself introduced as "machinery reporter" in the middle of an

industrial fair. In seconds, someone dragged me to his stall and asked

how much I would charge for an article on his equipment and if it could

appear next day. Another exhibitor blocked my vision with a very broad

frame, Namaste and a brusque "Thank-you-please. We have lot many

orders!"

Came the age of the Web and I started being called a 'content

developer'. That was fine because it is accepted that content developers

write and design web pages, given the need for file size

economy, navigation, etc. Good money initially. But I was expected

to build everything from a site selling electrical contacts to another selling

stationery. One day I got an enquiry from a lingerie distributor for an ecommerce

site, with a virtual showroom - photos et al, needed overnight

and at cut-throat rates. "Aaj kal every school kid designs web pages,

yaar!" he protested when I hinted at the six figures involved.

By '98-99, the Indian IT industry had grown in size and clout, enough to

nurture a scattered number of technical writers all over the country. The

STC India Chapter was formed, along with the e-list Technical Writers of

India and I joined it. There were a few journalists besides the engineers

and so there was good media attention as well. We are a 2000-strong

community now. But say you are a technical writer in public and the

same night you receive a phone call from a desperate software

developer saying that his 'solution' (read: program) was 'alphareleased'

(sent for trial) to 'an offshore client' (one-time college roommate)

who screamed at the language and style of the

accompanying Release Notes and Help or User Guide, so could he deliver

something better day-before-yesterday, pleeease?

Fortunately, while the IT sector boomed and crashed, the rest of our

industry built IT into manufacture, marketing, finance and personnel

management. All kinds of web-based 'enterprise solutions' automate the

work and exchanges that make business and industry. ERP

systems improve the planning and control of important resources - men,

machines, materials and money. With IT firms still in doldrums, technical

writers are now interested in non-IT industries as well. Managers in

these industries look for writers who know their industry's processes as

also some related IT applications.

At last in the 21st Century, being a technical writer does not bracket you

with a nerd or a "time-pass.” In 2001-02 I was invited by the Mumbai

chapter of the STC and made a presentation “Technical Communication

As An Agent of Growth” (to the tech industry, of course.) Reactions were

extreme – from few young TWs immediately asking me for copies of the

PPT to some very, very sleepy faces! Later in that year, the editor of

Indus, the STC organ, even invited me to write this article "Technical

Communication in Power Systems" now on line at http://www.stc-india.

org/indus/032003/uchaudhuri.htm In 2002 I decided to sell my skills to

myself and launched a campaign for low-cost-low-power solar power

concepts called microPower. It is now hosted at http://micropower.

blogspot.com/ and based on something from my early working years that

I wanted to do all my life but couldn’t get to.

Invited by an eminent editor (The late Mr Krishna Raj of the EPW) for a

New Year get-together one evening, this host suggested in his trademark

super-gentle tone: “You have a unique skill and this is such an

interesting specialisation you have built for yourself! Why don’t you try

applying it to creative writing?” I stammered back that I actually write

‘creative copy’ in ads and brochures for tech products, but he explained

that I should apply the style and skill in a creative way, to any other kind

of writing I wished. That brought fruition by way of an article on my

observations and experience of Gujarat, which surprised many including

me, for the clear insight and analysis – abilities that only technical writing

practice gives you or me.

So, this is my kaam and this is my dhandha. Karma and Dharma.

Udit Chaudhuri

6 Roop Kala, 128 West Avenue, Santacruz West, Mumbai 400 054

Tel : (91-22) 26045595

Fax: (By Request)

e-mail: uditnc@gmail.com