RE: Ethics and Job-Hunting

[dthomps -at- foundationsoft -dot- com]

For the most part, Bruce, I agree with all of your points, although I would
probably be more lenient in my opinion toward "defense" writing. I would
also add that I don't/won't work for a company that doesn't have a high
regard for producing a quality product/service. 

Very early in my career, I evaluated and designed curriculum used by a
company that offered one-day classes on various software. They frequently
asked me to "fill-in" teaching classes when they were short instructors.
Often this was with very little notice and required me to teach applications
I knew very little about. The final straw for me was the morning I walked in
ready to spend the day writing only to find out that I was needed to teach
advanced Photoshop. I had used Photoshop maybe three times, if I was lucky.
The owner of the company simply didn't care. The students were arriving and
there was more risk in having to refund clients who were angry over a
cancellation than clients angry because I was clueless.

Needless to say, it was a humiliating and frustrating day. I left the
company very shortly after that. Since then, a company's philosophy to
deliver a *truly* quality product has been a major factor in every job
search I've performed. Call me a perfectionist or an idealist, but I can't
stand to do a half-way job. 

Dannette Thompson
Technical Writer
Foundation Software, Inc.
The #1 Accounting Software for Labor-Intensive Contractors
800-246-0800


-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Byfield [mailto:bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com]


With so many people losing jobs and everyone else worried about keeping 
them, I'm curious: are there any types of tech-writing jobs that people 
wouldn't take?

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