Usually, one’s job function translates easily into a job title. One who manages is a manager. A person who administrates is an administrator. When someone drives, he’s a driver.

That kind of thing doesn’t always work so well in technical communication, I’ve noticed.

You do get easy terms such as “instructional designer” out of instructional design. On the other hand, our team at work is called the “User Education Team.” This encompasses more than technical writing, so calling ourselves technical writers doesn’t do us justice. But when you try to shift what we do—educate users—to a job title you get… user educator.

This isn’t the only place it’s difficult. The term “user assistance” is used in the field, but if your job is user assistance, does that make you a user assistant?

I think a job title that includes the word “documentation” would be good, because most of my responsibilities involve producing software documentation. Does that make me a software documentationer? I’m obviously not serious. But the dictionary says one who documents is a “documentalist”—however, I’m reluctant to adopt a job title that includes the word “mental.” So this is where you get “documentation specialist.” The same goes for “usability specialist.”

It seems a little funny that, being writers at heart and therefore professional manipulators of language, some of the terms we pick for our field don’t easily translate into job titles.

Maybe that’s a good title: Information Manipulator.

Have you had any technical communication job title woes?

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