RE: Buying software oneself in order to learn it

["Steve Arrants" <stephena -at- compbear -dot- com>]

Ellen Vanrenen asks:
> Is it customary for technical writers to buy software 
> themselves to load on their PCs in order to learn that 
> particular software? I have bought RoboHelp and FrameMaker, 
> and I am thinking of buying Photoshop. Or, do most technical 
> writers find more clever and less costly ways to pick up 
> skills? If so, what are these ways?

If the company doesn't offer trial versions, or a version with disabled
features, there are a couple of ways to pick up some skills.
If you're just going to be doing some simple tasks--converting images,
minor edits, and the like, I'd go someplace like Kinko's or the like and
rent time on a computer to learn how to do these tasks.  Along with an
introductory third-party book on the software, this can get you started
with the basics as well as help you decide if shelling out a couple of
hundred dollars for the full version is worth it.

Or, take a night class at a community college, Learning Annex, etc. that
gives you access to the software in a more formal training program. I
know that Adobe used to (still does?) run free day long/single afternoon
seminars on their software around the country, and that while it was
mostly a sales presentation, the Adobe folks had discounts available to
purchase the software as well as trial versions to give away. 

Steve Arrants

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