Towards a Vancouver Market Report

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- AXIONET -dot- COM>]

Last year, when I was doing the STC Job Bank, I used to write a
brief report on the market for tech-writing around Vancouver, BC.

The present STC Job Bank team seems to have decided to drop that part of
its job description.

However, since I'm often asked about local conditions, both by
out-of-towners and by newcomers to the field, I thought I'd ask the list
for help in producing a new one.

So, if you have any observations about the state of the job market in
the Vancovuer area, please send them to me. Direct experience, or second
hand, it doesn't matter.

Besides your own obsrvations, here are some specific questions I'd like
to answer:

--If you're a contractor,  are you keeping employed?

--If you're full-time, is your company hiring or considering hiring?

--If you're a newcomer, how long have you been looking for work? Have
you succeeded?

--If you're a senior writer, are you finding work that matches your
experience?

--What software tools are you using?

--Has the downturn of the Asian economies affected the high-tech field
in general and the profession in particular?

Please feel free to comment on anything else about job conditions.

I'll summarize the results in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks,
--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
Co-ordinator ,Vancouver Technical Communicators' Co-op List
Vancouver, BC, Canada
(604) 421-7189 or 687-2133
bbyfield -at- axionet,com or bruce -at- dataphile-ca -dot- com
www.outlawcommunications.com (update 8 June, 1998)

"I was born to tell the truth and run,
Remember me, remember me
It was all for love, the crazy things I've done,
Remember me,  I'm still your native son."
--Oyster Band,  "Native Son"