RE: tool nonsense (gearing up to be a tech writer)

["Jane Carnall" <jane -dot- carnall -at- digitalbridges -dot- com>]

Jeff Hanvey wrote:
> Then I started looking for a job. I searched for over 9 months,
> hitting the job boards, networking with STC, endlessly sending out
> resumes, et cetera. Almost every job ad asked for FrameMaker
> knowledge. Because it wasn't on my resume, I didn't get a call
> back. The ones who did call me back would make a point of

John Posada responded:
>Jeff...not to jump on you, but after the first month of being turned
>down becuase you didn't know FM, why didn't you simply learn it? Buy
>a copy, get the Classroom in a Book, spend a weekend and go through
>the lessons. Now, you have FM on your resume.

If it were me (not knowing Jeff's reasons) it would have been because I
couldn't afford it. When I graduated, I could no more have afforded to buy a
computer that would *run* FrameMaker, let alone another ?800 for a copy of
FM, than I could fly. It wasn't even a question of "get it on your credit
card, pay later": I didn't *have* a credit card, no credit card company
offering a sane rate of interest would have been interested in me (nor would
any reputable loans company) and I couldn't afford to take on a large loan
that I didn't know when I would be able to repay anyway. (And I was lucky:
thanks to a number of fortunate coincidences, I graduated with only one
large debt.)

But I *did* have quite a bit of experience with a lot of odd wordprocessors
and other tools, thanks to a good many years of fooling around with
computers, and my method - from day one - has always been to look 'em
straight in the eye and tell them "No, I don't know that one. But I've used
something similiar (list), and I do know I can learn how to use it, fast."
(Of course, this depends on getting past the HR department who think you can
measure how good a tech author is by what tools they've used. Are we veering
backm to the certification debate again?)

These days I prove my point by telling them how fast I learned to use
FrameMaker...

Jane Carnall
Technical Writer, Digital Bridges, Scotland
Unless stated otherwise, these opinions are mine, and mine alone.



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