RE: Typing Requirement in a Tech Writing Ad - How to respond?

[John Posada <JPosada -at- book -dot- com>]

>> If I were
>> hiring someone and they said BTW, I type 120 wpm,
>> would it be a + on their list? Sure.

>Funny, I'd question why they thought it important
>enough to bring up unsolicited. To me, boasting about

What unsolicited? I don't ask "How quickly can you type", but I may ask "How
to get the maximum productivity at crunch time?"

>typing speed or suggesting it's a good quality in a
>good technical writer is very weird. As someone else

Why isn't it? Is 5 wpm better than 2 wpm? Is 10 better than 5? Therefore, by
extension, why isn't 120 better than 30?

You know the ending to the joke about asking the woman to sleep with you for
a million dollars...it's all just details.

>already pointed out today, as a technical writer we
>think at the keyboard, and more time is spent

So? On some things, I can think fast. I'd like to have my fingers keep up.
is that bad?

>formulating/researching what we're going to type
>instead of spent actually typing. That kinda renders
>the wpm "plus" moot, no?

No.

OK, I spend 3 days reaearching, I may not type a single word because I'm
playing with the application...now I know the subject...let's get it on
paper as quickly as possible.

There are times when I might need to create 15 pages of procedure steps. I
know the procedure inside and out, I have the screen shots applied in
sequence, all I need to do is pour in text. 

Why wouldn't I like to sweep through the 15 pages in a half hour vs. a half
day? 

John Posada
Special Projects
Senior Technical Writer
Barnes&Noble.com




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