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Interesting to read John Posada's point about remembering everything written
during a long technical writing career. If portfolio samples range from the
recent to the distant past, then truly you'd need some sort of data mining
capability to track obscure and extensive software suites, not to mention
blurbs about the elaborate technology concepts on which they're likely
based. On the other hand, a large portfolio presents obvious problems if a
zealous or hyper vigilant interviewer challenges you to articulate a
succinct and descriptive needle in the documentation haystack. I am not sure
how an interviewer would know if one's description is reasonable anyway
unless they're intimate with the particular software and technology. John,
do you actually plunk down a 40-piece portfolio at the interview table?
Whoa!
Anyway, I sympathize with the memory thing. What was I saying? Oh yeah ...
Aside from describing projects to the satisfaction of the interviewer, isn't
it also tough to identify every nuance of one's role(s)? My involvement with
a majority of portfolio gems spans a full spectrum of technical
communication activities. Worse still, any one manual or Help project was
significantly modularized and has quite a multi-writer legacy: many scribes
doing a chapter here, some procedures there, sprinkled with various levels
of editing, indexing, and organization ... all of it over many years. You
might be suspected of hyperbole and exaggeration if you claim to have done a
bit of everything.
Ahhh ... portfolio memories.
OK ... those of you who can't remember their entire extensive portfolio:
admit it! You inhaled all those years ago, right? Anybody hungry?
Regards,
Mikey Likes It
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