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> <snip>
> With the hi-tech world being a place where people typically move around a
lot, do
> you think this is true? I know in current economic climes there
> isn't much option but to stay put, but given your druthers, would you stay
with one
> employer a long time, or change jobs every few years? Do you
> think it helps or hurts to alternate periods of captive employment with
contracting and
> consulting?
I regard those who consult in a different light than those who are captive.
For those who are captive, the more experience I have, the more I regard it
as a good thing if the person has been at one or more jobs for more than two
or so years.
The reason is because I have run into people who have glossed over previous
employment as being short-lived because of the economy or what have you,
only to find out later they were actually terminated from that position.
Also, staying somewhere more than two or so years means you have the
"stick-to-it" quality that some kinds of tech writing benefit from. There
are many folks who always like to do something new, but the reality is, a
good part of our jobs can be updating or maintaining existing documentation,
and needing to work on some things over and over and over. Some tech writing
work does offer endless variety, but some of it just doesn't.
However, whenever I interview someone, if they can explain the course of
their experience, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. And as
I said, I regard consulting/contracting in a different way.
My two cents,
Lydia
---------------------------------------
Lydia Wong
Technical Writer
FarPoint Technologies, Inc.
www.fpoint.com
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