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Whew! Never heard of that before.... did they offer to pay you for your
time to do the "rewrite"?
I could understand their asking you to comment on how you might approach the
task, but not to actually do a rewrite.
Jane Dooley
Phoenix, AZ
-----Original Message-----
From: Anthony Markatos [mailto:tonymar -at- hotmail -dot- com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2000 4:11 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Contractors - Typ Job Duties?
Questions for all listserv contractors:
Do TW contractors do a lot reorganization and rewrite of existing (poor
quality) documentation? Is this the most common task performed (vs original
content creation)? Also any comments on the below would be appreciated.
IS THIS WHAT THE WORK IS LIKE?
An agency recently contacted me about a contract job. They said that all
applicants must complete a "writing" test. They faxed me a copy of the
test. The main part of the "writing" test was a representative sample
(about two pages) of the client's end-user manual. I was instructed to
edit/rewrite as necessary.
The client sample was terribly written - totally incomprehensible. I have a
technical (engineering) educational background; I am used to reading "heavy"
material. But after reading through the sample four times, I was still
completely lost.
It occurred to me that this was NOT a writing test; it was a test of my
willingness to pour hear-and-soul over non-sense time-and-time-again until I
could make some sense out of it. The exercise of any writing skill was not
a primary task. Is this what contract TW is all about?
Thanks,
Tony Markatos
(tonymar -at- hotmail -dot- com)
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