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I don't think typing speed is even in the top 20 most important skills for
success in technical writing. If you doubt this, go back and look at the
many discussions on this list regarding key skills for technical writing. As
long as your not cripplingly slow, and by that I mean differently-abled
hunt-and-peck, I don't think it will be a strong determinant in your
success.
The tech writer down the hall just burns up the keys when he types. I walk
past his office, and I can scarcely make out the sound individual of key
strokes. If I didn't know it was somebody typing, I'd swear it was some sort
of rotating machinery. You know the sound I'm talking about.
By contrast, I'm a slow typist. I don't know how slow, but certainly not
that much improved from Mrs. Lescure's 8th-grade touch-typing class where we
pounded out our keystroke exercises on massive Smith-Coronas to the tempo of
J.P. Sousa marches on her record player. The last time I had my speed rated,
I think it was in the neighborhood of a neck-snapping 35 wpm.
But when they need a useful document on time and under budget, they
generally come to me first.
Tim Trese
Documentation Specialist
Subsurface Engineering and Data Center Operation
Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)
(321) 779-6006
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