Re: SOS

Subject: Re: SOS
From: Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>
To: techwr-l digest recipients <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 20:54:05 -0700

edwardroxannewood wrote:

The only writing experience I have is that I research
> different aspects of technology and furnish an on-line
newspaper with a
> weekly column.

You might want to borrow one of my approaches: I tell potential
employers that the skills needed to do a review or discuss
technology are not that much different from those needed to write
a manual. In both cases, you have to poke around and become
familiar with what you're writing about.

The main difference is how you present the format. For example,
in a column I just submitted, I use the words "old farts in
suits." I'd never use the phrase in a manual, but the magazine
I'm writing for has a lot of attitude. I'm still chuckling over
having the words passed by the editor :-)

More seriously, in a column, you give your opinion; in a manual
you don't. But both tasks acquire a similar background knowledge
of the subject. If you emphasize this point, you can present
yourself - with complete honesty - as having more related
experience than might be assumed.

--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
"The Open Road" column, Maximum Linux
3015 Aries Place, Burnaby, BC V37 7E8, Canada
bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604.421.7189

"Nevertheless, it moves" - Galileo on his deathbed



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