Advice seeking newbie

[Dragan Jonic <djonic -at- mail -dot- ru>]

Hello all,

I'm completely new in the Technical Writing and am beginning from the
scratch, meaning that this job here (in Russia that is) is a fairly new
stuff and the market is still undevelopped. I'm about to get my first
job these days, so that I want to know some more things on the issue.

My questions are:

* what software is the most appropriate for a beginner who starts from
point zero (I apologize in advance for any potential polemics this
question could trigger)?

* taking into account the market properties (in a sense that Russia
today, as to informatics, is where the States were 10 years ago), what
should I ask my potential employer? Maybe some of you have experience
working in pre-informatic societies?

* the job I'm about to get is on contract basis and I'm offered an
hourly payment rate. If I don't work in the office, how to calculate the
time? What inputs do I include in the calculation?


I have no Technical Writing education, but I have experience in teaching
and journalism (plus some talent to describe *how* something works), and
of course, what is here called "a working knowledge of English". My
"to-be" employer is a software making company and at the present moment
I have no idea about what I'll be supposed to do there.

Though I've been reading this list for two weeks already and have found
very helpful information, I'm still wandering around.

Any suggestions? Please reply off list.


Dragan Jonich, Still Not Much of a Technical Writer
djonic -at- mail -dot- ru