By Leah Guren | Associate Fellow
Welcome to Israel!
I’ve lived in Israel since 1991 and have watched the technical communication field develop here. In the mid-1990s, when the high-tech bubble was gaining momentum, almost any Anglo (native of an English-speaking country) with a modicum of computer skills could land a job. Companies were naive about what a professional technical communicator should know and do; they focused instead on finding people who had good English skills and could use Word.
Soon, everyone wanted in on this desirable, white-collar profession. But, as employers became more savvy (often because of project partners in the United States and the expectations of customers), they began to expect more. In response, technical communication training programs sprang up. These were commercial ventures; some were just attempts by untrained (and often unscrupulous) individuals to cash in on the growing market. These questionable commercial courses, which still appear from time to time, usually died out as quickly as they appeared, but some of the better programs have survived. These programs make a serious effort to prepare their students for the real world of technical communication in Israel.
In the early days of rapid high-tech growth, it was often impossible to find a skilled technical communicator with the necessary background for a project. Usually, a company could get permission from the Ministry of the Interior to hire a foreign writer on a temporary work permit. They just had to prove that there were no local people with the needed skills or training.
These days, however, if you want to experience working in technical communication in Israel, you either need to immigrate or you need to already be a technical communicator of an international company with offices in Israel.
To fully appreciate the technical communication work environment in Israel, you need to understand three things:
- The Israeli high-tech industry
- How the field of technical communication in Israel differs from that of North America
- How the culture influences the profession
Israeli High Tech
Let’s start with an exploration of the unique environment that makes up Israeli high tech.
Innovation
Israel might conjure up images of camels against a backdrop of palm trees, but the reality is more Buck Rogers than Indiana Jones. Think silicon, not sand.
With one of the highest per capita rates of PhDs in the world, and a culture that encourages innovation and discovery, perhaps it is no surprise that Israel pulls in more venture capital money than any other place in the world apart from Silicon Valley in California. Israeli research and development efforts lead the world in chip design, network technology, telecom innovation, and bio-medical patents. Even agricultural life on the kibbutz has contributed to the high-tech explosion with automated dairy management systems, solar water heaters, and drip irrigation.
Much has been said about the Israeli ability to innovate. Dan Senor and Saul Singer’s book, Start-up Nation (2009), put forward a theory of the connection between the Jewish tradition of study, questioning, and independent thought, with the ability to "think outside the box." Earlier, Dr. Geert Hofstede inferred that the personality traits of societies influenced more than just individual behavior. While some of Hofstede’s theory of cultural dimensions has been questioned in recent years, his initial ideas about what makes a national culture tick remain insightful. Hofstede’s emphasis is on understanding cultures to improve sales and marketing efforts, but the basic concepts can be extrapolated to other areas. For example, one clue to Israeli innovation may be connected to the extremely low PDI (power distance index), which measures the range of power (financial or political), or how deeply hierarchical a society is. A high score shows a society with a large gap between the rich and the poor, or between those with political clout and those shut out of the system. An extremely low score indicates a very flat social hierarchy, without large gaps between the haves and have nots. In Israel, this is quite visible in high tech, where the only currency of honor or respect is merit, not position. In such an environment, the lowliest programmer has no problem arguing with a top-level manager or challenging the design ideas of a more senior engineer.
Historically, a tradition of questioning developed within Judaism. Rather than rewarding rote memorization, scholarship always included the right of the student to ask questions and engage in discussions. Most of the great rabbis throughout the ages where those who were able to find creative solutions in their interpretation of halacha (Jewish law).
International Perspective
This cultural proclivity to innovation, when coupled with a society that embraces technology, creates an interesting mix. In an article published by The Economist in 2006, Israel topped the list of computer ownership per capita at 122.1 per 100 people, compared to a mere 76.2 in the United States. Cell-phone saturation in the 1990s was one of the highest in the world (Israel’s position has since dropped, as many other countries who were late adopters have overtaken them). Israelis embraced gadgets early and with none of the trepidation once found in other markets. Technology is not viewed as suspicious or geeky, but as a legitimate, intellectually challenging pursuit and desirable career, attracting almost 8,000 new engineering graduates each year. Israel invests a whopping five times more in technology research and development (as a proportion of business research and development) than the United States. It is no surprise, then, that many American high-tech companies, such as Intel, Cisco, and Microsoft, open research and development centers in Israel.
On the flip side, technology companies founded in Israel inevitably take advantage of American expertise in marketing, usually by having marketing planning handled through their offices in the United States, and sales and support offices globally. Even with a technologically savvy consumer group like Israel, the actual market size in this country of eight million people is tiny. Therefore, virtually every high-tech company must market to the world to thrive. Luckily, Israel technology firms have been doing that successfully for many years. Examples of Israeli technology abound: Windows XP and NT operating systems, the media chips in many MP3 players and digital cameras, popular PC CPU chips, and ICQ (instant messaging) are just some of the computer-related technologies that the Western world takes for granted—and all based on Israeli patents. Other fields, including agriculture (drip irrigation, new hybrid fruits, water desalinization) and bio-med (pill-sized cameras, cardiac stents, laser corrective eye surgery), have also made an impact globally.
The Emergence of Technical Communication
The need to sell complex technology products outside of Israel made the high-tech market one of the first to recognize the importance of technical communication. Suddenly, documentation became more than a "nice-to-have" add-on—it was a necessity. In some cases, as with bio-med companies dependent on regulatory approval, documentation became as critical as any other aspect of the development process.
Further, this situation meant that product interface and documentation had to be created in English; after all, it is far easier to find a good translator to localize a product from a source language of English than from Hebrew! For the companies who spread their development efforts internationally, all technical documents, including requirements and design specifications, were written in English. But being able to read and write English well enough to communicate with another developer was not the same as being able to write end-user documentation. While, on paper, English is one of Israel’s official languages and most college-educated Israelis have a functional grasp of English, it is not a mainstream language (with less than 2.5% of the population being native English-speakers). Suddenly, a critical profession emerged that required professional-level English skills in a country where English was not a widely used language.
Israeli Technical Communication Challenges
Unlike their colleagues in North America, Israeli technical communicators work almost exclusively in high-tech industries such as chip design, networking software, and bio-med products. They must not only cope with highly complex products, but they must also be the resident English experts, often without the luxury of other sources within the organization for editing or support. They are more likely to have broad responsibilities rather than narrow niche roles, often involved in document design, production, and graphics. These professional technical communicators are expected to use a wide range of software applications to get their work done. Additionally, since these technical communicators are ensconced in a highly dynamic environment, they are expected to cope with constant change and absorb new information as fast as it comes. One new employee told me, "I thought you were exaggerating about the pace of change, but it’s worse. I come back from a bathroom break and the programmers have already stuck another version [of the product] on the server!" In this environment, technical communicators are left trying to document a moving target. Like a circus clown riding a unicycle and juggling, the Israeli technical communicator must do all this with the added complexity of a multilingual (and often multicultural) environment.
Rachel J., a technical communicator who worked in Israel for many years before moving back to North America, sees the difference both in the writer’s mentality and the way the writer is perceived by the company. "As a tech writer in Israel, I was much more part of the technical team. Here [in North America], tech writers seems less adventurous with new technologies, and the career itself is not prestigious, as [it is] in Israel."
Ahuva C., a senior writer at one of the Israeli branches of a major, international, high-tech company, adds, "The documentation produced by other tech pubs departments [within the company but outside of Israel] is very basic. All the cool stuff—the interactive tutorials, the new generation Help—was produced here. It is as if Israeli technical communicators are less afraid of coding, of figuring out technology, of troubleshooting advanced software applications. No fear."
Israeli Population and Culture
National culture plays a major role in the work environment. To really understand technical communication in Israel, you need to know something about Israeli culture.
Immigration
Since its founding in 1948, Israel has absorbed over three million Jewish immigrants from all over the world, including approximately 118,000 from North America (United States and Canada) and another 60,000 from other English-speaking countries (Great Britain, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand). While representing less than 6% of the total immigration and only about 2.5% of the total population, the Anglo community enjoys prominence disproportionate to its size.
Most Anglo immigrants come by choice, not necessity. They are not refugees fleeing persecution, but individuals who are pursuing a dream. As such, they bring with them more financial and academic resources than other groups. Anglo immigrants, particularly from North America, are likely to hold college degrees and be white-collar professionals. This is certainly a good way to start a new life in another country, but there is one serious problem: many professions require recertifying. A lawyer, accountant, architect, or teacher cannot simply go to work without learning a new legal system, a new set of tax laws, a new set of building codes, and a new set of education standards—and all of it in Hebrew. Imagine learning a language well enough to pass a law board exam! For many Anglos, the reality is that they will never master Hebrew well enough to be able to practice their original profession. Even if they can master the language, there is a chance that their profession might not exist in Israel, or might not provide enough income.
Others, particularly those who came to Israel when they were in their 20s, ended up with manual labor jobs on a kibbutz. At 22, the spirit of the collective agricultural community seems romantic and idealistic; at 42, getting up at 4:00 am to for the first milking makes the promise of an office job quite appealing. Additionally, many of these Anglo immigrants take advantage of their language skills by teaching English in the public schools, a stressful environment that further enhances the appeal of white-collar work.
So, whether they are new immigrants who cannot use their existing careers in Israel, or well-established immigrants facing burnout from physically demanding or terribly stressful jobs, they form a group of educated adults looking for a new profession that will take advantage of their mother-tongue English skills.
Suits need not apply
In this casual meritocracy, people pay a lot more attention to what’s inside your head than what’s on your back. After returning from a speaking engagement in France, I was struck anew by the Israeli lack of style or fashion. Lumpy, dumpy, and frumpy is often the order of the day. I’ve seen CEOs in Crocs, engineers in shorts, and technical communicators in sandals. Anything goes.
A Lumpy Melting Pot
It isn’t just the personal appearance, either; our whole cultural mix seems to be lumpy. Immigrants from the former Soviet Union came with little knowledge of Jewish custom and ritual, while immigrants from Ethiopia faced culture shock from an immersion into the modern world. Each group quickly develops a patina of common Israeli culture, which is communicated through language (Hebrew), music, and politics. This common culture can prove to be a thin veneer indeed, as any stressful job situation quickly has people reverting to their native culture.
Cultural Adaptation
While all immigrants and long-term residents must learn Hebrew to really survive, Anglo immigrants face an additional challenge: coming from cultures where polite behavior is the expected lubricant for most social and business interactions, Anglos often have trouble adjusting to the forthright Israeli approach.
In the mid-1990s, past STC president Saul Carliner came to Israel and spoke to a group of writers, editors, and information architects. He started his lecture by describing a scenario in which the technical communicator, an outside contractor on a project, had been called in to document a project lifecycle. He painted a careful picture of a high-level manager who expected a glowing tribute to the brilliant project, and the decidedly bleak reality of developers who thought that the whole project was an unmitigated fiasco. He challenged the group to strategize on a solution. Most of the senior technical communicators at the event looked at him as if he had sprouted a second head. Finally, someone asked, "What’s the problem? Why didn’t the developers just tell the manager that the project was crap?"
Carliner was somewhat taken aback. "You have an interesting culture," he said.
That one exchange has come to symbolize to me all that is different between American and Israeli corporate culture. The flat social hierarchy and the relative lack of respect for rank or position makes the Israeli culture ideal for innovation, but also leads to interactions that seem brusque and even (to an Anglo ear) downright rude.
Adjust or Fail
Technical communicators who have lived in Israel for more than a few years are usually quite familiar with the mentality and mannerisms of the people they will work with. New immigrants, however, must wrestle with a completely different set of rules about social interactions, business expectations, and an endless supply of potential communication pitfalls. Much of this is something that can be learned by going through the process of klitah (absorption into Israeli society), but to succeed as a technical communicator in Israel, you need additional cultural awareness:
- Understanding the perspective of developers. A good technical communicator needs to deal with grey areas, while the average developer tends to reside in a world of binary thinking. Technical communicators must consider the subject matter expert’s (SME) thought process so that they can correctly translate information. Learning to interview SMEs by asking scenario-based, open-ended questions helps keep technical communicators from missing critical information. Here, creating and maintaining good relations with SMEs is even more important. Technical communicators can do this by being an English resource, by learning to read code, and by organizing their questions to minimize annoying or repetitive interruptions.
- Developing a Hebrew technical vocabulary. The writing may be in English, but meetings, water-cooler discussions, and project gossip are not. Technical communicators need to learn a few key terms in Hebrew, along with a robust English technical vocabulary, to help them "talk the talk and walk the walk" with the developers.
- Working with management. The flat hierarchy of business interactions is hard for some non-native technical communicators to adjust to. They expect managers to offer direction and are uncomfortable with the idea that employees must sometimes initiate change or direct a project. The idea that they have to be very aggressive to get the information needed at the start of a project, and to set certain guidelines, such as rules for reviews during the edit cycle, is alien. This means that a successful technical communicator cannot passively accept a project at face value.
- Bracing for the interview. Role playing is a useful tool and can help technical communicators mentally prepare for the interview process. Those new to Israel are often shocked by the seemingly rude (i.e., personal) questions that arise during the average job interview.
Summary: The X Factor
In conclusion, technical communication in Israel is a vibrant, well-established profession that is well recognized and equally well respected. Add to that a vibrant culture of art, literature, theater and music, amazing history, gorgeous weather, fabulous food, and some of the most genuinely warm people in the world, and you can see why we truly enjoy living and working here.
What Makes Technical Communication in Israel Different?
The main characteristics of Israeli technical communication can be summarized as follows:
- Technology is king. A highly technical market, with most technical communication jobs existing in high tech, requires that any technical communicator be more than just computer "literate."
- Most technical communicators here have re-tooled from another profession. After being away from an academic environment for 20+ years, they may need to brush off rusty skills, such as notetaking and researching. On the other hand, they bring with them business savvy, professionalism, work ethic, and maturity.
- The profession is not appropriate for everyone. While many people think that this is a good way to make money, they may be ill-suited for the demands of the profession here. I tell people, "If you can’t imagine yourself sitting in on geeky engineering meetings about software design, this might not be for you."
- The real world is tough. We live and die based on deadlines and complex technology challenges, and we do it all in a multilingual environment. We have to juggle work with security flare-ups, when half of the developers may be called up for reserve duty and employees might have to interrupt their work to run for bomb shelters.
- Culture sets the tone. Technical communicators must be made aware of the differences in social cultures and how they affect work, projects, and interactions. And that includes appreciating the not-so-subtle differences between a Sabra (native Israeli) and a Russian, for example.
Still Interested?
If you want to try working in Israel for a few months or even years:
- Find out if your company has any research and development divisions in Israel. This is the easiest way to get a temporary work permit on your tourist visa.
- Study Hebrew. Simple conversation-level Hebrew will go a long way to helping you stay connected and involved.
- Get in touch with your inner geek. Can you write an API manual? Can you sling XML? Go to the bleeding edge and beyond.
- Build on medical. Bio-med is huge here. Any medical knowledge can be a big plus.
Have questions? Contact Leah at leah@cowtc.com.
Leah Guren (leah@cowtc.com) is the owner/operator of Cow TC. She has been active in the field of technical communication since 1980 as a writer, manager, and consultant. She now devotes her time to consulting and teaching courses and seminars in technical communication, primarily in Israel and Europe. Her clients include some of the top high-tech and bio-med companies internationally, including Intel, IBM, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, RAD, Cisco, Given Imaging, and Rambam Medical Center. Leah is an internationally recognized speaker in the field of technical communication and is an STC Associate Fellow.
References
Ben-Menahem, H., N. S. Hecht, and S. Wosner. (2005). Controversy and Dialogue in the Jewish Tradition: A Reader. London: Routledge.
Central Bureau of Statistics, Israel. www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2002/1/Central+Bureau+of+Statistics.htm.
Hofstede, G. (1997). Cultures and Organizations—Software of the Mind. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Israel Tech Transfer Organization (http://www.ittn.org.il/news.php?cat=22&in=0).
Pocket World in Figures (data from the International Telecommunication Union).
Senor, Dan, and Saul Singer. (2009). Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle. New York, NY: Twelve Books.
St. Amant, Kirk, and Barry Thatcher, editors. (2011). Teaching Intercultural Rhetoric and Technical Communication: Theories, Curriculum, Pedagogies and Practices. Amityville, NY: Baywood Publishing.
Tel Aviv University.,www.startau.org/site/page?view=israel_entrepreneurship.
