Re: Transferable skills of a Tech Writer

[John G <john -at- garisons -dot- com>]

Late to the party ...

âThere are really only five things tech writers do:

   1. *Conceptualize *- pick up new ideas quickly and be able to âdeal with
   them effectively
   2. *Investigate *- read, try, talk ...  access people with information
   you need and get it from them as well as code, specs, demos, rumor, and
   innuendo
   3. *Assimilate *- be able to absorb the information you get and truly
   own it so that you can picture it in your head and undesratnd all the
   internal connections: If I do this here ... that happens over there
   4. *Organize *- be able to structure the information in the best
   possible way to present it to someone else
   5. *Write *- I usually say 'regurgitate', but it's the ability to put
   the information into the structure you have devised so that the people it's
   intended for can use it.

Everything else is part of one of those bullet points. All that changes
over time as tools, new concepts, and approaches emerge and get foisted
upon us. The core skills still remain and we learn to adapt them to
whatever comes our way. It's what we do so that we can explain things.


My 2Â,


JG
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