Architect as a Technical Writer/Communicator
On the 16th day of May 2018, I was able to make an interview with a Technical writer. I choose to have my instructor as my interviewee because he is capable to do such technical documents according to his profession. And I know he suits to be the professional who can lend us some advice and experiences who will be the upcoming technical communicators and architects.
I had an interview with Mr. Gerick M. Domingo who is an Architect and Instructor. At the age of 32, he is currently being able to work on I.A. Campbell Associates as well as teaching on Technological Institute of the Philippines Quezon City. He’s been working over 1 year and 6 months in length of his service on both companies.
Nature of technical documents written.
On his work at I.A. Campbell Associates, he is designated in Construction management. The nature of his technical documents is making such:
- Request for Information (RFI)
- Request for Application (RFA)
- Business letters
- Correspondence
- Instructions on specifications
The problems arose related to technical communication in the course of his job.
According to him, the common problems arose with those technical documents is having some typographical errors and misunderstanding on communication between their clients. Basically, they do revision on their documents as what it was originally made. And they make some adjustments regarding to the issues between the clients by giving further information that will help them analyze based on what they need.
Most important qualities of a technical communicator.
The qualities of an effective technical communicator must have professionalism, experienced and having interpersonal skill. Professionalism needs to have expertise on its domain so that you’ll be able to express yourself to the person you’re dealing with. An experienced communicator will acquire knowledge from the relevant domain and you will get accustomed with different terminologies. Lastly, having an interpersonal skill needs to interact with different people that they may feel at home whenever you are communicating with them. Most especially for us who will be an Architect, our nature is to deal with different people so that we must possess those qualities of a good technical communicator. And as a technical writer, we must write such technical documents precisely so that people will understand what they are looking for and which approach will best suit their purpose to be an effective one.
Advice to upcoming technical communicators.
Being a technical communicator, he gave some advice to prevent those arising problems in dealing with people. He said that whenever you are writing such documents, be careful on the content of it. It must briefly discussed and straight forward to your goal without any flowery words to avoid redundant sentences. Sometimes it will cause misunderstanding to the readers. Conflict can arouse from the smallest word or act and can cause destructive responses and behaviors. Having a good communication can lead to successful conflict situations either in the home or workplace.