RE: Essential software/programming skills for TC?

["Bruce H. Johnson" <bhj -at- wrkblslns -dot- com>]

Lots of good advice coming in this thread. In addition, many of the tools we
use, such as Word, have their own macro/programming language. In Word's
case, it's VBA. Learn a lot of the tool language, especially if it is fairly
wide-spread in the industry.

Over the past 20 years, my consulting company has done a lot of online
libraries in RoboHelp. Using VBA, I was able to cut the initial development
time of a manual (the reformatting and markup, not the content development)
to about 10% of doing everything by hand every time.

Right now, I'm working on extracting lots of our old archives from tape and
floppy disk. Tons of Ventura Publisher and older formats such as
WordPerfect. Using Word VBA, I'm able to update Ventura chapters to the
current directories. Using Word VBA, I've automated an open (and convert)
and Save As RTF for older word processing formats.


-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+bhj=wrkblslns -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+bhj=wrkblslns -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of
Phil
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2010 3:44 AM
To: TECHWR-L list
Subject: Essential software/programming skills for TC?

While I accept that in some sense this 'unanswerable' being dependent on
employers/industries, I would nevertheless appreciate opinions on the
following:

What are the essential software/programming skills a new tech communicatior
MUST possess?

To give some context, I've been a 'writer' in various capacities for many
years, needing little other than Word to do my work. Now in my 40s, I'm
"retraining" in the sense of doing an MA in Tech Comm. While the MA is great
for the 'soft' skills (theory of ID, Comm Planning, Audience Analysis,
Usability etc) I find myself overwhelmed when looking at the trade in the
variety of software/programming skills discussed. To name a few: QuarkXP,
InDesign, Framemaker, Flare, RoboHelp, Dreamweaver, XML, Html, Java, Python,
various C languages, Json, JQuery - and those are just off the top of my
head.

Which, if any of these (and if not these, what else?) can I _NOT_ afford to
have missing from my CV/Resume?

n.b. I know there are many other essential skills for being a TC that have
nothing to do with software/programming, but I am pretty well aware of those
already. Likewise, 'ability to learn any of the above quickly' is something
I also recognise, but I'd appreciate specific answers to the question.

Thx in advance for any thoughts!


Phil


Phil Stokes BA MA TESOLcert 
Language Instructor
Chulalongkorn University Language Institute
Phaya Thai Road
Patumwan
Bangkok
10330
Thailand




^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help.

Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need. Try 
Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days. 
http://www.doctohelp.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as bhj -at- wrkblslns -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/bhj%40wrkblslns.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info. 

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help. 
Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need. Try 
Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days. 
http://www.doctohelp.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info. 

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat