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Subject:What color is my parachute? From:mrassmussen -at- hotmail -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 2 Jul 2001 10:12:40
Hi. I've been lurking here for a few months, and I thought I'd be content
to just lurk until now.
In May, I graduated with a B.A. in journalism. Prior to graduation and for
a month afterward, I worked as a technical writer for a non-profit
organization. I designed brochures using Adobe Photoshop and PageMaker. I
copy edited newsletters. I created a 110-page book of scientific abstracts
(complete with index, table of contents, etc.) using MS Word. I started
work on a breast cancer resource guide, although I did not have time to
finish. I created content for the Web site and made PDF files. I did
extensive research for all of these projects.
I enjoyed the work and decided to continue down the tech writing path. I
know entry-level positions can be impossible to find, but a job found me
before graduation. It seemed like a cool job, although I won't get into
the specifics, just in case someone from my office is a subscriber to the
list. They were looking for someone to mold, and I was looking for a job.
It worked out well.
Until I started.
The primary project I'm working on is, well, something I have zero interest
in. Not so much because of the content, but because of the main tool
(ToolBook II Instructor) used to work on the project. Talking to other
tech writers, I found that none had even heard of ToolBook II, and even the
members of my team have commented on how much they hate using it because of
its obscurity and difficulty level. They want to move on to another tool,
but the company, apparently, has invested too much into it for that to
occur any time soon.
I took this job because I thought I'd gain new skills that would benefit me
during the inevitable second job search, but I'm afraid that if I stay,
I'll just become proficient at a program that very few places use. Sure,
that I can learn a new skill shows ambition, but will I always be on the
bottom of the resume pile if I'm a ToolBook II Master and everyone else has
at least intermediate proficiency in FrameMaker or RoboHelp? On the other
hand, I'm afraid that if I leave, I'll have difficulty finding a similiar
position because of the scarcity of entry-level positions.
In the world of tech writing, is it worth it to just get any experience/any
skill?
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TECH*COMM 2001 Conference, July 15-18 in Washington, DC
The Help Technology Conference, August 21-24 in Boston, MA
Details and online registration at http://www.SolutionsEvents.com
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