Re: Help

[Dan BRINEGAR <vr2link -at- VR2LINK -dot- COM>]

>Date:    Fri, 25 Apr 1997 16:54:34 -0700
>From:    Jim & Peggy <taflar -at- UTW -dot- COM>
>Subject: Help
>
>I want to get into telecomuting and would like suggestions on how to
>accomplish this goal.
>

The Phoenix Chapter of STC offers the "Insider's Guide to the Arizona
Technical Communications Market," and their employment  homepage (which I
don't work on anymore) is at:

<http://stc.org/region5/pac/www/employmt.html>

...we used to have a telecommuting and independent contracting PIC, dunno
if it's still active.

I believe the Silicon Valley chapter
<http://sfbay.yahoo.com/Business_and_Stocks/Organizations/Professional/Socie
ty_of_Technical_Communication> and
<http://stc.org/region8/svc/www/sigs.htm> also offered a similar guide.

For Java-related materials, I'd recommend first looking into former
techwhirler Laura Lemay's stuff at:

<http://www.lne.com/Web/Java/>
<http://www.lne.com/Web/Whatsnew/>

Dr. Dobb's Journal also has some fairly useful Java-related articles
archived at:

<http://www.ddj.com/ddj/>

  ... and then wandering over to Gamelan at:
 <www.gamelan.com> where everything Java can eventually be tracked down...


I'm telecommuting and writing Java-stuff as an independent contractor for
right now, and it can't be beat! <grin> Although as my roomate has
occassionally hollered from across the hall right after rolling outta bed:
"Oh, Gosh! We're already at work!"

For me, getting this gig was largely a matter of timing:  We've tried
independent contracting from home before, and it hasn't always worked. But
this time, having pretty-much missed the Spring contract techwriter's
season, I got in contact with a telcommuting, business-owning
favourite-former-boss and she just happened to need a techwriter right
away... no questions ever came up about where I was gonna work, or what
software and equipment I was gonna use. This is a Very Good Thing.

A coupla years ago, most of the contacts I got for telecommuting and
independent contracts were from hits off my website...  I listed the skills
I offered as the second or third line of text on the page, and the search
engines found those pretty fast, so that I showed up early in any search
for tech writing (or whatever else I had listed there). Today, it's a
little harder to get noticed that way (what with a few hundred million
extra URLs added to the web in the last two years)...

But there are a couple of ways to get around that: you can do a search
yourself and look for anyone with a page devoted to "technical
communicators on the web" or existing sites devoted to your
area-of-specialization; if they offer to include links to your site if you
email them, do so (easy, fast, and cheap). Another way is kinda
passive-aggressive, and open to some controversy -- but if you're offering
a legitimate, legal, needed service, I feel it's okay -- called
(unfortunately) "spamdexing," it involves adding meta-tags to your webpages
so that the search engines have an easier time of  finding you... (that is,
legal-and-legitimate in that you don't put "sex" in yer meta-tags, but
include buzzwords and keywords about what you do and offer -- like the
particular mil-specs you know by heart, "IPB" and stuff like that).

Some pages discussing this technique are at:

At WebWeek <http://www.webweek.com/96May20/undercon/cheaters.html> For a
general discussion of it;

Jim's Promotion Tips <http://deadlock.com/~deadlock/promotion/faq.html>
among some pretty good tips on promoting your organization on the web;

Advertising your site <http://www.sunweb.com/web-design/9.htm>.

I know, I know, I just got in a bit of trouble for flaming a post featuring
content-free, somewhat spammy, telemarketing-flavoured boilerplate....   I
do feel that there's a difference between promoting something nobody needs
and legitimately promoting your services... (he said, opening the asbestos
umbrella).

Best regards,
dan'l


>Date:    Fri, 25 Apr 1997 16:54:34 -0700
>From:    Jim & Peggy <taflar -at- UTW -dot- COM>
>Subject: Help
>
>I want to get into telecomuting and would like suggestions on how to
>accomplish this goal.
>
>I would also like to obtain lists of technically orientated
>temporary/contract agencies from the major cities on the West coast from
>Seatle to San Diego, Denver, Phoenix and Albuquerque.
>
>Is there a tutorial on Java that can be downloaded?
>

-------------------------------------------------------------
Dan Brinegar   Information Developer/Research Droid/Mac Guy
http://vr2link.com <-- under construction

                                             Acting Chief Deputy Developer
                                                Macintosh Technical Support
     Arizona's only REAL Ex-NetZone Employee's Association!

djb -at- vr2link -dot- com     -- Virtual INK
                                   Performance S u p p o r t Svcs.

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