TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
>In answer to all your questions I can only provide a broad stroke: The
>learning involved in PC-based work is "a *lot*." You can decide to *be* a
>Mac-based tech writer, then look for work that fits, rather than trying
>to be fully versed in both platforms.
I don't understand this attitude. Any idiot can learn how to get work
done on a PC -- I've got plenty of idiots to use as examples. DOS is
annoying and primitive -- a holdover from an early 1970s way of doing
operating systems. Windows is annoying and buggy. On the other hand,
Macs have given me a good dose of bugginess and recalcitrance, too.
PCs are like anything else. If you want to be an expert, grind through
the ENTIRE manual set that comes with it. For want of thorough reading,
most people never fully learn how to use the tools they work with
every day. This worked for me with DOS, Windows, UNIX, EMACS, LaTeX,
Awk, Interleaf, and innumerable VLSI chip designs ("Run! It's another
T-Spec! Aiieeeeeee!").
It's not fun, but it works a lot better than anything else.
-- Robert
--
Robert Plamondon * Writer * robert -at- plamondon -dot- com * (408) 321-8771
4271 North First Street, #106 * San Jose * California * 95134-1215
"Writing is like plumbing -- even people who know how to do it will
pay top dollar to keep their hands clean."
