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Well delivered and very fun presentation, Rick... thanks for sharing!
(And I only spotted one glaring typo..... *;<)* )
> Chris
On Wed, Apr 23, 2014 at 8:47 AM, Lippincott, Richard
<RLippincott -at- as-e -dot- com>wrote:
> Two responses, one message.
>
> First:
>
> I tried a variation of this technique 30 years ago, and it landed me my
> first tech writing job. With graduation date approaching, I started looking
> in the classified sections of trade magazines for the field I really wanted
> to be in. Ads for tech writers were few and far between, but there were
> plenty of ads for engineers.
>
> So, I started sending a letter and resume that said (more formally than
> I'm writing here) "Hi there, I noticed you're looking to hire engineers.
> Well, eventually you will need some tech writers to document whatever the
> heck it is they're designing, so here's my resume." It was only three or
> four paragraphs, total.
>
> It worked. I got a couple of callbacks, and two offers before graduation.
>
>
> Second:
>
> Steve Janoff asked "Why does it always seem that the "Golden Age" was in
> the 80's and 90's? Is it because the computer industry was young and there
> was a lot of opportunity to write about software (and hardware)?"
>
> Well, yeah. It was a period of greater innovation than we're experiencing
> right now. Innovation brings about new stuff, new stuff needs people to
> explain it, and we explain things. These things run in cycles, and the
> 80s/90s were the high part of a cycle. Right now we're in a period where we
> are seeing more "evolution" than "revolution."
>
> We will see another golden era when there's another technology revolution,
> and so long as civilization survives there will always be another tech
> revolution eventually. It's been like that for a long time, and by "long
> time" I mean "many generations more than we tend to think this profession
> existed." The good news is that for the past century or so, the revolutions
> have been coming a little bit closer and closer together.
>
> About two years ago I got conned into summarizing these thoughts into a
> five minute presentation, some of you have already seen it I think.
> Although a little dated, the core concept is still valid. It's online here:
>
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrCgKEDSs8Y
>
> I stand by what I said in 2012.
>
>
> Rick Lippincott, Technical Writer
> American Science and Engineering, Inc. | www.as-e.com
> 829 Middlesex Turnpike | Billerica, MA 01821 USA | Fax +1-978-262-8702
> Office +1-978-262-8807 | rlippincott -at- as-e -dot- com
>
>
>
>
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