David Farbey – A Technical Communication Interview

 ANSWER: In the early 1990s I was living in Israel and working in a rather dull management job in a public service department. I had a lot of friends who were working in the software industry which was blossoming in Israel at that time, and I was interested in getting involved in high-tech as well. Everyone in my department would come to me – rather than to the department’s technician – with their computer problems. I realized that I was quite good at explaining technology to other people, and that I enjoyed doing so, and so I decided to look for a new career which would interest me. I took an evening class at a private college to learn the basics of technical writing, and was very lucky to find my first job, through a friend of a friend, at a local software company. I worked with a fantastic technical writing team at that company who taught me far more than I had learned on my course, and I haven’t stopped learning since then.

QUESTION (4): In your judgement, what is the best and worst thing about working as a technical writer? 
ANSWER: The best thing for me is the opportunity to work in product development organisations, which in my experience, are exciting and dynamic places to work, with some of the most interesting people you could meet. The worst thing is that there are still some people out there who don’t recognise the important contribution that technical writers can make to an organisation.

“Don’t stop learning. Ever.”

QUESTION (5): What’s your advice for those who are just starting out their careers as technical writers today?
ANSWER: Don’t stop learning. Ever. Never think that you know everything about anything at all. Learn about your product, your company, the tools and methods used by your development team; learn about your users, and their needs and expectations; learn about how people learn and communicate; learn about the tools you are going to use in your job. Learn from colleagues, from the Internet, from discussion boards and email lists, from wherever you can. But the most important thing of all is that you must always be ready and be happy to share what you’ve learned with your peers.
QUESTION (6): What’s your views on globalization, out-sourcing, and the way it affects technical writers in UK, and abroad?
ANSWER: Business decisions on outsourcing, like all business decisions, are made on the basis of costs and benefits. Costs include monetary value, of course, so it’s always tempting  for a business to move non-core activities to parts of the world with lower wage costs, as long as the work is of comparable quality. The key is knowing what a business considers to be its core activity, the activity it will never outsource to someone else. If product development is regarded as a core activity, then is technical communication thought of as part of that? We have to be good enough in terms of quality and efficiency to show businesses that we do belong there.
QUESTION (7): Ask yourself a question that we didn’t ask and answer it please.
“David, you use Twitter a lot. Is that something you’d recommend to other technical writers?”
ANSWER: Yes I would. There are lots of technical writers using Twitter and by following them I keep up to date with the latest blogs and articles and presentations. I can find out what’s happening at a conference 3,000 miles away without leaving my desk. I can also waste my time reading about what my favourite celebrities or sports personalities are saying, and we all need to have some escapism in our lives!