atw: Re: Technical writing at Shell
- From: Evan Read <eread@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:39:26 +0800
Hi guys,
The Macs are definitely becoming more affordable, but don't have Linux
advantage of being free and providing an avenue to
resurrect old hardware. However, if you get comfortable with some of the Linux
writing tools, most of them will also run on
Mac OS X.
I was surprised, when I began to look at the Technical Writing industry, that
Macs seem to be second class citizens when it
comes to the large commercial toolsets. I had assumed that because Mac was big
in the publishing industry (well, at one
time) that they would be big in this specialisation. I am very surprised, for
example, that MadCap tools aren't available on
Mac OS and also some of the dedicated Adobe products aren't either.
Hopefully that changes because I think Mac OS X has a very productive user
interface.
Evan.
On Tue Nov 3 20:17 , "Terry Dowling" sent:
>
>Gedday Martin,
>
>Â
>
>I recently did some less-technical
>work for BP and found that their focus on safety was pretty sound. I think the
>guy I worked with and for was pretty good at getting the info I needed from his
>colleagues, but he obviously found me more helpful than their helpdesk for
>solving doc problems. I still (three+ months after concluding a three-month
>contract) get calls from him whenever he wants to do anything beyond his
>experience with MSWord.
>
>Â
>
>I think the large
>corporation thing may mean they have styles that they want to follow, but BP
>hadnâ??t spent much time or money achieving their style (i.e. the templates
>they had were all based on manually manipulated Normal style). Youâ??ll
>probably find youâ??re in a small team that is reasonably autonomous. I was
>able to create my own template to look like theirs, but that had the bells and
>whistles (mostly just styles and shortcuts) that I like to speed things up for
>me.
>
>Â
>
>My experience leads me to
>think most organisations, no matter large or small, are open to improvements,
>so it behoves all of us to market our skills and to show them how we can make
>them more productive. You just need to get around the occasional obstacle who
>is usually set in (usually) his old ways.
>
>Â
>
>Speaking of which, I
>think Iâ??ll follow Monsieur (welcome back) Granatâ??s suggestion and
>check out Ubuntu. (Reminds me of Monty Python, depending on pronunciation.)
>Â If
>I strike it rich in the near-to-medium term, I might follow Evanâ??s lead
>and buy a Mac.
>
>Â
>
>Cheers,
>
>Terry
>
>
>
>
>
>Â
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
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>
>From:
>austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
>On Behalf Of Martin Wojczys
>
>Sent: Monday, 2 November 2009 5:33
>PM
>
>To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>Subject: atw: Technical writing at
>Shell
>
>
>
>Â
>
>Hi everyone,
>
>
>
>I am most likely going to be taking an internship as a technical writer at
>Shell as part of one of my university subjects. This will be my first technical
>writing experience outside of university. I'm trying to find out more about
>Shell and their approach to technical writing, so I was wondering if anyone
>here has had any experience with technical writing for Shell. If you have,
>could you give some opinions on working as a technical writer for this company?
>For example, how does technical writing for Shell compare to technical writing
>for other companies? Do technical writing teams for large corporations take a
>different approach to their work compared to smaller businesses? I'm interested
>in any information along those lines. I'm interested in hearing the opinions of
>people who haven't actually worked for Shell, too.
>
>
>
>Thanks,
>
>
>
>Martin
>
>
>
>
>
>
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