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

["Joe Mcpherson" <zenpickl -at- nycap -dot- rr -dot- com>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Jeff Hanvey <techwriter -at- jewahe -dot- net>
To: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2001 9:27 AM
Subject: RE: tool nonsense (gearing up to be a tech writer)


>
> 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 discussing my knowledge of tools. The most common
reason I got turned down was because I didn't know what they used. I got my
current contract only because this department was desperate. I had to learn
FM on my own very quickly.
>
>

I had been doing that every time I had been looking for a new job.  Whenever
people would call me asking if I knew some application or language, I would
go to a website, download a trial version, go through a tutorial, sometimes
buy a book or two, and learn it quickly.  Since I didn't start out intending
to be a technical writer, I ended up with a lot of apps on my resume.  But
most of my took experience came from working as one of three prepress guys
for a rapidly growing digital printing company.  It gave me intense
firsthand experience with Quark, Pagemaker, Freehand, Powerpoint, tricks
with Acrobat, why MS Word sucks, and it also helped me see the mistakes
other designers and writers were making.  Ironically, it was my frustration
at the shoddy writing that I had to send to the printer that sparked me to
switch careers into writing.

But even then, each company wanted me to know that one extra app.  But
learning these becomes easier the more you know about others (a show of
hands?).  My deep experience with Pagemaker made Framemaker much easier when
I was placed in front of it.  I still was not that familiar with Framemaker
when I got a contract working for a major insurance company.  The person in
charge of getting this software product they were making gave me a copy of
Framemaker.

"Do you know Framemaker?"

"I have some experience."

"Good.  You can learn it and teach us how to use it."

I guess my point is that most apps are learned by the seat of your pants.
But it also works to just try to learn them at home (for as little $$ as you
can get away with).  I personally think that once you get the concepts of
Quark and Pagemaker down, most apps are pretty logical, like Freehand.  And
Framemaker requires just a little more work to take advantage of its
automation, but it's easier with Pagemaker under your belt.

Now when I talk to employers, and they are demanding knowledge of a
particular application that's not on my resume, I point out how quickly I
learned the others and how I can bring the wealth of experience from those
apps into that one.  It's ironic that a year and a half ago employers were
skeptical of my tech knowledge.  Now I'm having trouble convincing them of
my writing skills because my tech knowledge dominates my resume.

- Joe McPherson :-)


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