atw: Re: OT - a query

  • From: Peter Martin <peterm_5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 15:37:20 +1100

Samantha Lawry:
You wrote:
> Hi all,
> have been reading all your posts with much interest. I'm interested in 
> working towards
> becoming a technical writer but have been a bit confused about what
> quals/experience/skills (eg. which applications/programs) might be required or
> necessary in order for someone to call themselves a 'technical writer'. I'm 
> not
> planning on doing so yet! Have done some research but would be grateful if 
> anyone could
> point me in the right direction or offer some simple advice.
>
> So far I've worked as a lawyer for 7 years, have a Diploma of Arts (Prof 
> Writing and
> Ed) from RMIT and have worked as a writer/editor/plain language drafter in 
> community
> legal education. Comfortable in MS Word (not so much macros etc), Excel etc; 
> few other
> technical skills but not afraid of anything!
>
> Just tell me if you think I'm shamefully exploiting this list... Either way, 
> thanks for
> what I've learnt so far! Cheers, Sam

Welcome. You should fit in quite nicely here at the home of shameful 
exploitation....

I'd just make the general comment that while knowledge of the main 
publishing-type toolset is going to be a basic requirement (and preferably not 
just Word... see archived postings for views on that hot topic....),  you might 
need to look at areas of knowledge and expertise where tech writing is called 
for.    And look a little wider than the publishing toolset...  There seem to 
be some topics listed for tech documentation which call for specialist 
knowledge in other areas....  eg.  SAP Tech writing seems to be a field on its 
own.    Plenty of us in IT..... some in hardware,  some in software....

Tools?   Well, I'd list stuff  like FrameMaker ,   Acrobat Pro or substitutes,  
 AuthorIT,  MadCap stuff.  Despite Geoffrey, I'd add in XML and HTML editors 
somewhere.....    Graphics tools -- vector graphics for drawing  (Visio, 
SmartDraw) and photo-related stuff  (Photoshop?  maybe... but free GIMP,  and a 
few other nice free tools would do, in my view...
Mostly you don't have to spend a fortune on that if you go to a place like 
Gizmo's www.techsupportalert.com for lists of free stuff that mostly does the 
job beautifully.  Maybe you can get by with trial versions of stuff like 
FrameMaker  and AuthorIT.. but to build up expertise, you need to be quick -- 
some of those trials expire just before you're starting to get the hang of the 
basics...
another Murphy law of software....

Knowledge of process management and improvement theories and disciplines and 
the different methodologies involved (Quality Assurance,  ITIL,   ERP, etc ... 
) is also a pretty basic requirement in many places....

Places exist for writers familiar with the law...    but in general, start with 
stuff you think you'd be interested in... health and medicine ...   
astrophysics... whatever...     Nothing worse than writing boring batshit about 
boring batshit...   unless of course, batshit has been a fixation for you from 
the age of 2.    (In which case, what the hell were you doing to get that way?  
-- oh, yeah, a touch of the law...  hmm.   :-)   ).

Good luck.  I came here from politics and media, if that helps.   (Well, not 
sure it helped me, much,   but the leaving of those fields was WONDERFUL. )

Good luck.




-PeterM
peterm_5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Knowledge is power. - Thomas Hobbes
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