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Don't sell yourself short.
The amount of work you put into a document to completion is a major part of
the tw field. There are some writers who only produce the text and pass it
on for lay out. And there are just layout people. Being able to collect
and lay-out the document in a usable form is a very worth while skill.
Many TW writers try to boast that they do it all by they really don't. Just
think how long it would take to produce a completed document if you did ALL
the leg work. Starting from being handed a disk with no instructions to
handing back a printed bound book.
True writer skills are to know your sources and how to acquire the right
information, by asking the right people the right questions and how to play
the office politics. Accept the text from the engineers, but remember that
you need to be the translator. You need to translate the Eng. tech language
to something the end user can understand and use.
Hands-on is one thing that I would insist on a little more. Try to stress
that it is hard to clearly write or lay out a manual on a product that you
have never had the pleasure of some reallife experience.
Some suggestions to gain support to do this are:
If the company runs a training on the product try to attend. Suggest that
you would like to get some feedback from the manual at the training
secession and how it is used to train or in the field. If they tell you
that its not part of the training then ask why. Is it not good enough? Does
it not relate? Ect... if any of these are true then state that is why you
need to go also, To fix the manual so it does relate or can be used as a
reference in the training.
If the company is strongly driven by the sales force talk with the sales
team about how the manual is received by the end customer. Try to have the
sales force under stand that a better manual will help improve the image of
the product in the customers eyes. Get some of the sales force to
understand that the better you understand the product (by actually working
with the product) the better the manual, the better the product image, all
this = better sales its a win-win.
Try adding a user feedback sheet to the manual. This can be used to your
advantage on both sides. If the feed back is neg. then it supports your need
to be involved with the product to better understand it to produce a better
manual. If positive it works in both your next raise and job. I have a
sample available if you would like to see one that seem to work for me.
Working with old tools does not make you worthless. Corel 5 skills if you
know it well can translated to Corel 9.
If you have FrameMaker USE IT. The time saving in layout alone can be
justified to you boss.
Christopher Gultch
Christopher Gultch
-----Original Message-----
From: e.ruddock [mailto:e -dot- ruddock -at- home -dot- com]
Sent: Sunday, April 02, 2000 5:20 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: ...impersonating a technical writer...
Importance: High
My job title is that of Technical Writer, but I am quickly learning that I
am not (in the true sense of the word). I "fell" into this job directly from
university two years ago, and now I can't imagine doing anything else. I
love it!! But... my current position more closely resembles that of a
documentation specialist than a tech. writer.
I work for a systems integration and factory automation company. Currently,
the engineers write the information for our systems and then hand it to me
for production. I insert the text into our standard Word template, do the
formatting, editing, and clarifying. I insert the graphics, which are
already captured and saved in a folder for me. I also create visio drawings
for architectures, and create marketing material from project profiles
completed by the engineers.
In all but a few instances, I miss out on any team aspects of a project. I
do not go on-site and learn a company's system; I don't interview users or
SMEs (other than the engineers from our company who are working on the
project); and because my position is regarded by most as a "necessary
inconvenience", I don't get to develop skills using the tools that are
becoming standard to our industry. We have FrameMaker, but don't use it. We
also have RoboHELP, but I've only used it to assist on a project. I
requested that we order Adobe PhotoShop - but my request was denied and I
was told to continue using Corel 5!
I like the company I work for, but feel I'm committing "career suicide" by
staying. I want to be able to hold my head high when I say I'm a technical
writer. I'm seeking new employment - how do I explain my lack of experience
when being interviewed, and what areas should I start to work on
immediately?
Elaine Ruddock
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