[austechwriter] Re: Another one down

<vent>
.... *no* payout and still owed a month's salary - a year later...
</vent>


But it's true that you can take it as an opportunity to move onto better
and brighter things - I did!



-----Original Message-----
From: Roy Taylor [mailto:roy.taylor@xxxxxxxxxxxx]=20
Sent: Monday, 30 June 2003 1:55 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [austechwriter] Re: Another one down


Tony asks:=3D20
"Have you considered, for example, becoming, say, a Business Analyst or
=3D
Tester or something like that?"

I had a wee chuckle when I read that because many of our testers want to
=3D
get into tech writing...they reckon it's much more exciting than =3D
testing!!!

However it is pretty sound advice from Tony because a variety of skills
=3D
is invaluable (that coming from someone who has a very limited set of =3D
skills, but still a job...for now).    :-)

Cheers,
Roy.

ps. I've been retrenched twice as well so know the feeling.  =3D
Unfortunately very small payouts were involved.  :-(
=3D20

-----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,
=3D20
I truly hope you find something soon. I have been retrenched "twice" =3D
during my career and I know plenty of people who have had this =3D
experience. It is probably fair to say that in today's world most people
=3D
will experience this at least one in their working life time especially
=3D
with all the M and A (Yank term for "Mergers and Ascquisitions") =3D
activity going on. Luck of the draw I guess.
=3D20
While retrenchment can be a painful experience it is also an =3D
"opportunity". Now is the time to think about what you really want to =3D
do. Have you done a SWOT analysis?
=3D20
SWOT is where you list down your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, =3D
and Threats. This is a useful exercise as quite often ideas come out of
=3D
the exercise that you might not have thought of before.
=3D20
You may find that technical writing in IT may not be the way to go. I'll
=3D
explain some of the issues in a minute.
=3D20
There are a number of other IT related roles that you can choose from. =3D
Have you considered, for example, becoming, say, a Business Analyst or =3D
Tester or something like that? These seem to be the few growth areas in
=3D
IT at the moment. As a Business Analyst you learn to understand the =3D
software from a system implementation point of view and you learn about
=3D
how a particular industry/customer uses a software developer's products
=3D
i.e. you specialise (which means you are in demand!). With that =3D
knowledge you go to customers and discusses their needs and enhancements
=3D
they want made to the system etc (you will be writing specifications and
=3D
the like so you will still really be technical writing but then these =3D
days everybody is really a technical writer in one way or another =3D
anyway. Or how about becoming a tester? As a tester you try to break the
=3D
software and, if you are not too fond of programmers or like breaking =3D
things, this can be great fun. Then again you could become a User =3D
Interface
  expert
 advising on usability deficiencies in the software etc etc. There are =3D
even companies that specialise in these different areas who provide =3D
consulting services to companies in these areas.
=3D20
While things are slowly picking up in IT again, IT is no longer the pot
=3D
of gold it once was, particularly for both Programmers (even Java =3D
programmers are feeling the pinch) and technical writers.
=3D20
As a technical writer in the IT arena, one can sometimes be called upon
=3D
to write truly "technical" material i.e. not just user help and the =3D
like. I have found that it is not ununusual to have to scan lines of =3D
code to find out how something works because all too often programmers =3D
are too busy to be able to give you meaningful answers. If you're really
=3D
lucky the programmers might have commented their code but don't count on
=3D
that. Having said that, sometimes it is possible to dump the techie type
=3D
material on someone else i.e. one of the programmers but it doesn't =3D
always work out that way. With Java it is possible to use Javadoc to =3D
create techie doco and you can blame the programmers if the output is =3D
far from ideal.
=3D20
The course you mention would help but IT is a peculiar world and so =3D
qualifications you obtain in the computing world have to some degree a =3D
limited "useful life" to you. For one thing languages and technologies =3D
used keep changing on you. After you've come up to speed with a new =3D
language for the third or fourth time you begin to get fed up with the =3D
lunacy of the IT world and pray that the Open source world will one day
=3D
come up with a new language for all that has the ease (i.e. mainstream =3D
productivity) of BASIC or PASCAL, that has none of the proprietary =3D
rubbish put there by Companies with vested interests (mentioning no =3D
names but I do include the current crop of languages which are guilty of
=3D
doing this - even if they use the open source community to assist their
=3D
language's development - if you know what "deprecate" is then you know =3D
what I mean!).
=3D20
In the old days, of course (e.g. Fortran and the like), the languages =3D
were more or less universal and didn't change so often i.e. not =3D
machine/company specific. To give you a different perspective on this; =3D
how many ways do you know of that car companies use to put the wheels on
=3D
a car? Answer: One, they bolt they wheels on! Well, true car companies =3D
are guilty of built-in obsolescence i.e. cars are deliberately designed
=3D
to fall to bits after 5 years or less, but still, the car industry is =3D
probably a lot more productive than the IT world.
=3D20
Having said all of the above, if you happen to thrive in a chaotic and =3D
insane world, then being a technical writer in IT might be the way to =3D
go. It all depends...
=3D20
Good luck.
=3D20
Regards,
=3D20
Tony
=3D20
=3D20
=3D20


Melanie Dixon <meldixon@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi everyone,
My position at Jupiters was made redundant on June 20.=3D20

Does anyone have any advice for the newly retrenched? The job market =3D
seems a bit barren.=3D20

I do have a specific query. I want to improve my technical skills so I =3D
can work in a software development team and write technical documents, =3D
such as functional specifications etc. I thought doing the programming =3D
certificate at TAFE would be a good idea. Am I right or should I be =3D
concentrating on another technical area?

Any advice is well appreciated.

Cheers,

Melanie


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