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Subject:Advice for a career changer? From:renee -at- edit-work -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 6 Nov 2000 13:44:53
Hi everyone,
I'm relatively new to this list. I'm a former
journalist who's now a Web editor. My own career
change has gone pretty well -- it's my spouse who
needs advice .
He is trying to break into the technical writing field
in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He's 50 years old, has
a BS (accounting) and an MBA. He received computer and
electronics training in the late 1970s in the Navy,
and served as a Data Technician there. Most of his
experience is in defense contract work, primarily on
field projects in installation, repair and
troubleshooting of electronics systems (RF, mostly).
Contract proposals and technical documentation were
part of his job.
In recent years as a freelancer he's created Web
pages, done troubleshooting and installations on PCs
and LANs, written technical and marketing Web content,
written a software training manual, written newspaper
articles, and done copyediting and proofreading for a
college textbook publisher. He's now trying to get a
fulltime job as a tech writer, but he has never had
the opportunity to learn FrameMaker or Robo-Help, and
every job for which he interviews requires knowledge
of those software packages, even if the specific ad
doesn't say so.
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