Learn to write, computer geeks!

I read a lot of posts from computer geeks. Heck, I interact with a lot of computer geeks.

I could begin posting here some discussion of RAID arrays, *nix commands and scripts, or differences between postgresql and mysql, that might illustrate a point that I want to get across. (I really could; it's not that I don't know how.) It's that my reader (I hesitate to put an "s" there because I think Carol is the only person who reads me!) would be bored to tears and tell me to post something interesting.

INSTEAD, I will post about communication. (It seems to be what most interests me, so I'll use my soap box for that.)

I was stalking some computer geeks'/writers' blogs today, or what they called blogs, and it hit me, "Day-um, this is crappy writing." I would link examples here, but I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings because these people are blogging about programming for open source projects--I consider their endeavors valuable, useful, and important to humanity's collective knowledge. I'm a big believer in open source, so don't assume that because I'm critiquing the writing style of open source programmers, it is because I dislike open source or these people's programming.

I began this blog a few years ago with the lofty goal in mind of improving open source application documentation (specifically to improve DSpace documentation, though I've since suffered a loss of faith in DSpace), on the premise that I'd be a good candidate to do so because I understand technology and I know how to string words together. Sadly, real life intervened, and I realized I had little time to commit to an endeavor like that. Instead, I continue to follow the near-incomprehensible musings of a bunch of appie-smiths who don't know the difference between a comma and a semi-colon, and I grit my teeth every time I see a comma splice.

But seriously, I came across one blog this evening that I expected to be slightly more comprehensible, and all I could think was, "What drugs was this guy doing when he wrote this?" While his code seemed solid (and apparently, he's a rock star of a programmer--this is not someone I know personally--I state that here because I don't want any of my computer geek friends seeing this and getting insulted by mistaken assumptions), his explanations of the projects for which he'd created the code was poor, to say the least.

So, computer geeks, learn to write! I'm a geek--granted, not hard-core, but I can follow code enough to troubleshoot it, can dig through logs to figure out where something went wrong--but I _can_ communicate. I know a lot of geeks aren't big into the whole human-contact thing, but I have to admit, when a geek knows how to communicate, the job possibilities are endless, and potential for job satisfaction is higher.

Geeks, go learn to write. Then in your cover letters say, "I'm a geek who knows how to write. I also use deodorant." (Okay, you don't really need that part.) You'll get a job for the writing part alone.

Minor rant. Conclude. End of file.