[austechwriter] Re: Another one down

Tony asks:=20
"Have you considered, for example, becoming, say, a Business Analyst or =
Tester or something like that?"

I had a wee chuckle when I read that because many of our testers want to =
get into tech writing...they reckon it's much more exciting than =
testing!!!

However it is pretty sound advice from Tony because a variety of skills =
is invaluable (that coming from someone who has a very limited set of =
skills, but still a job...for now).    :-)

Cheers,
Roy.

ps. I've been retrenched twice as well so know the feeling.  =
Unfortunately very small payouts were involved.  :-(
=20

-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Watkin [mailto:arwatkin@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, 30 June 2003 1:10 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [austechwriter] Re: Another one down


Hello Melanie,
=20
I truly hope you find something soon. I have been retrenched "twice" =
during my career and I know plenty of people who have had this =
experience. It is probably fair to say that in today's world most people =
will experience this at least one in their working life time especially =
with all the M and A (Yank term for "Mergers and Ascquisitions") =
activity going on. Luck of the draw I guess.
=20
While retrenchment can be a painful experience it is also an =
"opportunity". Now is the time to think about what you really want to =
do. Have you done a SWOT analysis?
=20
SWOT is where you list down your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, =
and Threats. This is a useful exercise as quite often ideas come out of =
the exercise that you might not have thought of before.
=20
You may find that technical writing in IT may not be the way to go. I'll =
explain some of the issues in a minute.
=20
There are a number of other IT related roles that you can choose from. =
Have you considered, for example, becoming, say, a Business Analyst or =
Tester or something like that? These seem to be the few growth areas in =
IT at the moment. As a Business Analyst you learn to understand the =
software from a system implementation point of view and you learn about =
how a particular industry/customer uses a software developer's products =
i.e. you specialise (which means you are in demand!). With that =
knowledge you go to customers and discusses their needs and enhancements =
they want made to the system etc (you will be writing specifications and =
the like so you will still really be technical writing but then these =
days everybody is really a technical writer in one way or another =
anyway. Or how about becoming a tester? As a tester you try to break the =
software and, if you are not too fond of programmers or like breaking =
things, this can be great fun. Then again you could become a User =
Interface
  expert
 advising on usability deficiencies in the software etc etc. There are =
even companies that specialise in these different areas who provide =
consulting services to companies in these areas.
=20
While things are slowly picking up in IT again, IT is no longer the pot =
of gold it once was, particularly for both Programmers (even Java =
programmers are feeling the pinch) and technical writers.
=20
As a technical writer in the IT arena, one can sometimes be called upon =
to write truly "technical" material i.e. not just user help and the =
like. I have found that it is not ununusual to have to scan lines of =
code to find out how something works because all too often programmers =
are too busy to be able to give you meaningful answers. If you're really =
lucky the programmers might have commented their code but don't count on =
that. Having said that, sometimes it is possible to dump the techie type =
material on someone else i.e. one of the programmers but it doesn't =
always work out that way. With Java it is possible to use Javadoc to =
create techie doco and you can blame the programmers if the output is =
far from ideal.
=20
The course you mention would help but IT is a peculiar world and so =
qualifications you obtain in the computing world have to some degree a =
limited "useful life" to you. For one thing languages and technologies =
used keep changing on you. After you've come up to speed with a new =
language for the third or fourth time you begin to get fed up with the =
lunacy of the IT world and pray that the Open source world will one day =
come up with a new language for all that has the ease (i.e. mainstream =
productivity) of BASIC or PASCAL, that has none of the proprietary =
rubbish put there by Companies with vested interests (mentioning no =
names but I do include the current crop of languages which are guilty of =
doing this - even if they use the open source community to assist their =
language's development - if you know what "deprecate" is then you know =
what I mean!).
=20
In the old days, of course (e.g. Fortran and the like), the languages =
were more or less universal and didn't change so often i.e. not =
machine/company specific. To give you a different perspective on this; =
how many ways do you know of that car companies use to put the wheels on =
a car? Answer: One, they bolt they wheels on! Well, true car companies =
are guilty of built-in obsolescence i.e. cars are deliberately designed =
to fall to bits after 5 years or less, but still, the car industry is =
probably a lot more productive than the IT world.
=20
Having said all of the above, if you happen to thrive in a chaotic and =
insane world, then being a technical writer in IT might be the way to =
go. It all depends...
=20
Good luck.
=20
Regards,
=20
Tony
=20
=20
=20


Melanie Dixon <meldixon@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi everyone,
My position at Jupiters was made redundant on June 20.=20

Does anyone have any advice for the newly retrenched? The job market =
seems a bit barren.=20

I do have a specific query. I want to improve my technical skills so I =
can work in a software development team and write technical documents, =
such as functional specifications etc. I thought doing the programming =
certificate at TAFE would be a good idea. Am I right or should I be =
concentrating on another technical area?

Any advice is well appreciated.

Cheers,

Melanie


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