Running head: THE LANGUAGE OF THE IT INDUSTRY

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The Language of the IT Industry!

Tereza Mojzisova!
Academic Writing 310!
Antioch University Santa Barbara!

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THE LANGUAGE OF THE IT INDUSTRY!
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The Language of the IT industry!

The tech industry is not just for nerds who are fluent in coding anymore; people working
within the industry need to be able to communicate and write professionally, just like my friend
Alec Missel. Alec is a young male in his twenties. After getting his MBA in New York he moved

Comment [1]: Whoa!&&What&a&fantastic&start,&Tereza!&&

:)!

across the country to start his dream life here in California. He is now working as a Sales

Comment [2]: _Marked&as&resolved_!

Comment [3]: _Re;opened_!

Development Specialist at cloud management company in Santa Barbara called RightScale. We

all know that good writing skills are critical for journalists, writers or public relations specialist
but you probably did not realize that they are an essential skill to have in the IT (Information
Technology) industry. Even IT specialists, managers and sales development representatives are
required having great writing skills. Employees with good writing skills are usually seen as more

Comment [4]: Don't&forget&your&Oxford&Commas!!

Comment [5]: _Marked&as&resolved_!
Comment [6]: _Re;opened_!

credible, intelligent, and responsible. Alec has recently learned how important of a role does
writing play in his job and he has decided to share his knowledge with me. I was struggling at
first when I got a job at RightScale because I never realized how much writing will be actually
involved, claims Alec. Alec informed me that one often associates the IT industry with
technical jargon and complicated ideas, however, RightScale manages to communicate with new
clients from diverse backgrounds by using a concise structure, and friendly language in its
documents. Concise structure and tailored, friendly language can be found through Alecs work
in the documents that he wrote himself and in the documents written by his company. !
RightScale is a cloud management company that enables enterprises to accelerate
delivery of applications that engage customers and drive top-line revenue while optimizing cloud

Comment [7]: Hell&yeah,&Tereza!&&Awesome&job&here&

so&far.&&This&thesis&statement&i&super;solidL&the&only&
advice&I&could&offer&is&to&name&the&documents&that&you'll&
be&analyzing&(what&genres&are&they&or&what&are&they&
titled,&etc).&&But,&that's&"small&potatoes"&;;&this&is&very&
good.!
Comment [8]: _Marked&as&resolved_!
Comment [9]: _Re;opened_!

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THE LANGUAGE OF THE IT INDUSTRY!
usage to reduce risk and costs. RightScale is the market leader in cloud computing managements
and has been shaping the industry since 2007. RightScale is continuously transforming the way
companies deliver IT through offering a Cloud Management SaaS (Software as a Service)
platform. RightScale is in the enterprise market, meaning that, they target companies with over

Comment [10]: Try&to&vary&the&start&of&your&sentences&

;;&you've&got&4&back;to;back&"RightScale&is..."&
sentences.!
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10k employees. Some of their biggest customers include VW Audi, Technicolor, Pinterest, and
Angies List. Alec was able to send me four different documents (writing artifacts) that I will
analyze later in this paper. First of all is the Cloud Management Brief. This two-page document
provides high-level overview of the companys approach to the prospective customer. Second

Comment [13]: You're&"shifting&gears"&a&bit&here&;;&

going&from&RightScale&background&info&to&Alec's&
documents&;;&so&it&might&be&a&good&place&to&start&a&new&
paragraph.!
Comment [14]: _Marked&as&resolved_!
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writing artifact that I received is Cloud Workload Migration Overview. This four-page document

Comment [16]: Great.&&I&like&knowing&this&now&b/c&I'll&

be&able&to&anticipate&it&later&on.!

provides a deeper-dive into one specific subject matter the technical summary of the

Comment [17]: _Marked&as&resolved_!

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companys approach in the cloud management area. Continuing on, I received an email that a
RightScale sales employee would send to a potential client. Lastly, I received the companys

Comment [19]: Can&you&categorize&this&in&a&genre?&&

Think&of&its&purpose.&&(Remember&when&we&looked&at&
that&"letter&of&recommendation&request"&emails&earlier&
this&quarter?)!

blog post on their website written by the CEO. !

RightScale puts great importance on adapting the content of their writing to address the
main concerns of their audience. An example to show how RightScale tailors their writing
successfully toward their audience can be seen in the Cloud Management Brief. This document
provides a high-level overview of the companys approach to the prospective customer and it is
written in a professional yet friendly way. Alec explains, After I started working [at
RightScale], I learned to recognize that different readers can best understand different
messages. By looking at the RightScale documents, it is obvious that they realize the
importance of adapting their writing to their intended audience. In the comic book created by
Losh and Alexander (2013), the authors conclude, Writing means always changing changing

Comment [20]: Who&are&their&prospective&customers?&&

Do&they&tailor&their&work&to&a&specific&demographic?!

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to meet the needs of different audiences (p. 117). To be sure that the company communicates
clearly in writing they need to decide how they say what they say, what information to include,

Comment [21]: Way&to&weave&in&the&readings&early&on.&

:)!
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and who will be reading their documents. Different readers can best understand different
messages. RightScale uses friendly approach that focuses on any potential customers who do not
have any knowledge of the technical aspects of cloud management. In an email to a prospective

Comment [24]: Can&you&get&more&specific?!

Comment [25]: _Marked&as&resolved_!
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customer RightScale focuses on getting to know the person and possibly engage the customer in
a conversation. Alec adds, I always try not to be generic in my emails to the customers. I ask
questions and try to get to know them to possibly suggest the right product to them. Alec found
this approach to be very valuable because it makes him look trustworthy, intelligent, honest, and
approachable. !
Moreover, all of the RightScale documents are very friendly, polite, and informative by

Comment [27]: Good&Alec.!

Comment [28]: _Marked&as&resolved_!
Comment [29]: _Re;opened_!

appealing to ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos contributes to the companys credibility and pathos
uses emotion to persuade the potential customer. Logos appeals to the intellectual side of the

Comment [30]: I&like&how&you're&defining/describing&

these&terms&before&you&begin&to&use&them&extensively.!

audience. In the article that discusses the steps toward rhetorical analysis Carroll (2010) explains,

Comment [31]: _Marked&as&resolved_!

Comment [32]: _Re;opened_!

As audiences we want to know the facts of the matter, and logos helps present these
statistics, data, and logical statements (p. 52). All of the documents from RightScale show all
three categories of persuasion in them. Ethos is reflected by the knowledgeable employees at
RightScale that use their expertise and experience to talk to their customers. To show the
companys credibility most of the blog posts on the companys website are written by the
company CEO of RightScale instead of an inexperienced intern. RightScale employees,
including Alec, use ethos to show that they are credible sources of information that are worth
listening to. Pathos is shown by using a friendly tone throughout the companys emails and blog

Comment [33]: Absolutely!&&Great&insight&here.!

Comment [34]: _Marked&as&resolved_!
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posts. By using the friendly approach and by getting to know each customer, RightScale appeals
to the customers emotions. Lastly, logos is shown through logical arguments that RightScale
articulates in their documents. RightScale uses facts and logical statements to appeal to the
customers logic and to persuade the customer by reason. !
Continuing on, another example of RightScales ability to adapt to their audience is when
they use professional language in some of their documents that provide a deeper-dive into one
subject matter. Companies from the It industry often use jargon, especially when it comes to the

Comment [36]: These&little&phrases&go&a&long&way&

towards&connecting&this&sentence/paragraph&to&the&
previous&ones.&&Way&to&build&in&effective&transitions,&
Tereza.!
Comment [37]: _Marked&as&resolved_!
Comment [38]: _Re;opened_!

IT industry. Jargon is the terminology used by those in a particular professional or group to

facilitate clear and precise communication (Boyd, 2011, p. 89). In the four-page document
called the Cloud Workload Migration Overview, RightScale achieves a great balance of using
jargon and language that everyone can understand. When they use jargon they usually explain it

Comment [39]: Can&you&hook&me&up&with&some&

examples&of&this?&&Help&me&*see*&it.!

so it can be understood by broad audiences. Jargon used in the document is explained to those
outside of the IT community who do not understand the meanings of the words. After examining
RightScale documents it is clear that the employees use jargon and professional language
effectively and that they always strive for clarity. RightScale realizes that using too much jargon
could confuse their customers, therefore, it is important for them to know their audience. If
RightScale does not have a specific reason to use jargon, they avoid it. Their jargon and
professional language is well-placed and serves as a voice of credibility and authenticity within
the IT industry. !
Furthermore, RightScale realizes the importance of a concise structure of their documents
in todays world. People in the workplace do not usually have time to read long documents
anymore, that is why it is important to be able to produce concise documents that convey your

Comment [40]: Do&different&genres&use&different&

jargon?&&Any&evidence&of&that?!

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message effectively. Nowadays, people have to be able to write brief documents that include all
the necessary information without leaving out any essential information such as the contact
information. I have learned to keep my communication with clients and colleagues simple and
straight to the point while still getting my point across. But it takes practice. Alec told me. All
of the documents from RightScale have one thing in common - they are brief, concise, simple
while still being reliable, structured and containing all the important information. That way the

Comment [41]: I'd&encourage&you&to&steer&clear&or&

"things'&;;&it's&suuuuper&vague.&&Be&as&precise&as&you&
can.!

companys communication can be addresses as quickly and efficiently as possible. !

To communicate clearly, RightScale uses bullet points in its documents. I have noticed
that RightScale uses bullet points in a lot of their documents such as the Cloud Workload
Migration Overview and in the Cloud Management Brief. By using bullet points, the company
achieves to draw attention to important information and to communicate information efficiently.
Alec explains, I like to use bullet points when I want to hook a reader to my writing. Bullet
points do indeed hook the reader like a fish. Most importantly it improves the ability of the
reader to scan information easily, therefore bullet points are a useful thing to use in business
writing. RightScale uses bullet points to highlight important information and to emphasize key
information within the text. Using bullet points supports the concise and simple structure of their
documents. !
Clear and concise communication is especially important for RightScale when
communicating with international customers. Intercultural communication can be difficult for
many reasons. First of all, there might be a language barrier between carriers. Also, accents and
cultural dialects might create a problem of some sort and lastly, time difference might be difficult
for arranging phone calls. Alec told me that it is sometimes difficult to arrange an online meeting

Comment [42]: Ha!!

Comment [43]: _Marked&as&resolved_!
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with someone from the other side of the world. However, he told me that he has never had a
problem with understanding the client. When crossing the borders business communication
might be a problem if your company documents are not clear and easy to follow. Yet, RightScale
documents use friendly language without the overuse of jargon and professional language,
therefore, it is easy for the employees to communicate with foreign clients. !
Overall, RightScale uses rhetoric in order to be effective, persuasive, and motivational.
RightScales passionate emotions, rational arguments, and credibility can be seen throughout all
of the writing artifacts. Boyd (2011) suggests, Rhetoric is what allows you to write (and speak)

Comment [45]: I&like&how&you're&using&"rhetoric"&to&

wrap&this&all&up.&&Nice&"move"&on&your&part!!

appropriately for a given situation, one that is determined by the expectations of your audience,

Comment [46]: _Marked&as&resolved_!

Comment [47]: _Re;opened_!

implied or acknowledged, whether you are texting, writing a love letter, or bleeding a term
paper (p. 100). Rhetoric is the way that a writer packages his or hers writing. Rhetoric is used to
convince, and influence an audience, in our case a potential customer. Rhetoric is a tool for
RightScale how to empower themselves in order to convince their customers to purchase their
services. !
In summary, we all know that writing plays an important role in our lives and writing is
especially a key part of working at RightScale. RightScale connects to their audience efficiently
by customizing messages and keeping the documents clear and simple. Concise structure and
tailored language for their intended audience can be found throughout RightScales documents.
By examining RightScales artifacts I was able to realize how complex and complicated business
writing is, especially in the IT industry. Any employee of RightScale has to be able to tailor
different documents for different audiences all the time. Their work is very diverse - sometimes
they have to communicate with their customers, other time they have to work with very technical

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information, and they have to be able to make easy-to-follow promotional materials out of
technical documents. Alec and his co-workers need to be always able to find the purpose of their
writing, the audience, and the message while being able to write grammatically correct and being
able to create a concise structure. In this increasingly competitive marketplace RightScale is able
to produce and distribute writing that is appealing to their customers. !
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Comment [48]: Tereza,&this&is&easily&one&of&the&top&3&

best&papers&I've&ever&gotten&in&this&310&class&at&AUSB.&&
Fantastic&job.&:)&&:)!
Comment [49]: _Marked&as&resolved_!

Comment [50]: _Re;opened_!

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References!
Boyd, J. (2011). Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking). Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. Parlor !
Press.!
Carroll, L.B. (2010). Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis. Writing !
Spaces: Readings on Writing. Parlor Press. !
Losh, E. & Alexander, A. (2013). Understanding Rhetoric. Boston, MA: Bedford/St.
Martin's.!
Missel, A. (2015, November 6th). Personal Interview. !
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