The existential pleasures of technical communication: personal reflections on a profession

Abstract

The author examines technical communication and technical communicators in much the same way as S.C. Florman (1976) examined engineering and engineers. The conclusion reached is very much the same as the one Florman reached: that there can be great pleasure in working as a professional technical communicator and, despite flaws and criticism, the work of technical communicators has a positive impact on the way we live and work. To realize their true potential as professionals, technical communicators need to reflect on their work, their goals, and their sense of what it means to be a technical communicator in the last quarter (or the last tenth) of this century.<>