Posted by Devora-Leah on June 10, 1998 at 19:19:14:
In Reply to: Fulfilling careers posted by Brian on June 10, 1998 at 13:36:57:
I am a Four (also INFP) technical writer , and I don't want to discourage you, but I thought I'd let you know that I don't find the work particularly satisfying. I've always enjoyed writing and am quite good at it, so I thought tech writing would be a good practical fit for me, especially in the job market where I live. I have found, however, that tech writing does virtually nothing to satisfy my creative bent. There is very little actual writing involved -- it seems I spend most of my time in meetings, badgering engineers for information, or attending to the production aspects of the documents. I think what I like least about the field is that one must be rather aggressive in gathering information from those who are not much interested in giving it, like software developers. Being that I am shy and have a hard time pushing for things, this aspect is not a very good match with my personality.
I do find some positive aspects to the profession -- the main one being that in my jobs I've had quite a bit of freedom. Freedom both to do my job as I see best, and also logistic freedom in the sense that I can telecommute a lot. I also do take satisfaction in actually producing a concrete book -- many jobs don't result in such a tangible end product.
If I were you, I would think hard about just how much you feel you need to express your creativity on the job. You might find that writing about technical material (which is generally rather dull and dispassionate)does not satisfy your need for creativity and originality. You might also consider if you have what it takes to be aggressive in obtaining information.
I have found that most of the writers I work with tend to be Ones or Threes. The Ones get their perfectionistic love of detail satisfied by tech writing, the Threes, their agressive go-getter bent, which enables them to gather a lot of information. It's possible that there are other Fours out there who are very happy tech writers, and if there are, I hope they will respond to you also so you will hear a different viewpoint.
Remember, these are just the personal opinions of one person. You need to research the career more. I would suggest you start by looking at the Society for Technical Communication's web site. They are an international organization with local chapters throughout the country.
Let me know if I can be of any more help or answer any specific questions.
Good luck in your career planning,
Devora Leah