Re: Technical Writers and Programming Skills

["Tamminga, Ernie" <et -at- DSC -dot- COM>]

some responses to your specific questions...
--------
Ernie Tamminga
Director, InfoEngineering
Digital Sound Corporation

>-----Original Message-----
>From:  Mike Collier - SSG [SMTP:MikeCol -at- SBSERVICES -dot- COM]
>Sent:  Tuesday, May 13, 1997 11:28 AM
>To:    TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
>Subject:       Technical Writers and Programming Skills
>
>I have a couple of questions for technical writers who use programming
>skills in their jobs. I'm talking about software development languages
>such as C++, Java, Visual Basic, and C.
>
> <<<<<< What level of programming knowledge is required of you in your work ?
>For example, are you required to be able to read blocks of code and
>explain what it is doing, and/or do you write code samples for use as
>examples? >>>>>>>
>We need at least to be able to read the Object diagrams created by the
>development engineers. All the tech writers on my staff have been sent to
>Object-Oriented Analysis training, to support this.
>
>[ <<<<<<  If you've recently learned a programming language, have you been
>able to
>learn effectively and apply what you've learned from books of the "Learn
>[whatever] in 21 Days" variety?  What other means have you used to learn
>programming? >>>>>>>>>
>I was a programmer before going into TechWriting, so I had that background.
>I've had to use "self-help" books in recent years, though, to learn new
>languages. Some of those books are very useful, some aren't. As a specific
>example, "Teach Yourself Java/J++ in 21 Days" has a good introductory chapter
>on object-oriented programming, but in the subsequent chapters (where you're
>actually getting into the Java language), the book is rife with technical
>errors. You have to debug the authors' code at the same time you're trying to
>learn from it...    Try to get recommendations for specific books before
>taking that route to learning a language.
>
>What is more important to spend your time on-- developing and refining
>programming skills, or other technical writing skills, such as using
>document production software and writing and editing ?
>
>Can't be any universal answer to that one. In my own case, it's about 50-50.
>With the new HTML-based Help standards emerging excruciatingly slowly from
>Microsoft, there's a whole set of new technologies to learn on the
>TechWriting side, as well as keeping up with the "other" side.
>
>If you (or if you would) hire technical writers with programming skills,
>how would you evaluate their skills in a job interview (e.g., explain
>the inputs and outputs of a block of code, comment a block of code,
>write a simple program, etc.)
>
>When we're hiring a tech writer to work on documenting software development
>tools, there is skills-testing involved. All of the kinds you mention. Not
>all of our tech writers work on such projects, so not all applicants are
>tested in that way.
>
>I have seen some help wanted ads looking to hire technical writers who
>can write user documentation straight from the application's source code
>(I assume without analysis, design or other project documents to use as
>reference).  Isn't this asking too much, even of a skilled technical
>writer with modest programming skills?  If you've done this, how did it
>go?
>
>It IS asking too much for a skilled TW with modest programming skills. One
>would hire a skilled programmer with modest TW skills (& pay at the
>modest-level), or (lotsa luck) find a skilled programmer who is also a
>skilled tech writer, and pay commensurately.
>
>Thanks
>
>Michael Collier
>mikecol -at- sbservices -dot- com
>
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