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> "How do you become a good writer without feedback from a good writer (or, at least, critical reader)?" Software developers have to communicate with our co-wo
by ThrowawayR2 6y ago
> "How do you become a good writer without feedback from a good writer (or, at least, critical reader)?"
Software developers have to communicate with our co-workers and write documents continually anyway so it's not much additional effort to observe the clarity, effectiveness and persuasiveness of what one is writing or even solicit feedback. You also get to observe colleagues and leaders who are good (or not) at writing and learn from their output. Being a competent communicator becomes more or less a requirement as one rises through the ranks, for both managers and senior technical individual contributors, so it's best to make a virtue out of necessity and hone your writing skills in the workplace.
- throwawaygh 6y agoYou’re assuming a baseline at or above those intro courses. I’ve had engineers who don’t know how paragraphs work, or whose vocabulary and reading comprehension seems to have stunted at middle school. Those people are usually stuck as juniors without formal education because they’re not at the point where self-teaching is possible. Ymmv
- ThrowawayR2 6y ago> "You’re assuming a baseline at or above those intro courses. I’ve had engineers who don’t know how paragraphs work, or whose vocabulary and reading comprehension seems to have stunted at middle school." If they're that poorly educated, then they'll be floundering in college humanities courses too so I'm not sure how that's a counterargument. Spending credit-hours on remedial English courses is even worse value for money.
- throwawaygh 6y agothe engineer’s second line probably isn’t so interested in playing comp 101 TA.