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Re: Ever wonder why techwhirler lives seem so crazy?

Subject: Re: Ever wonder why techwhirler lives seem so crazy?
From: Jo Francis Byrd <jbyrd -at- byrdwrites -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 12:04:12 -0500


Andrew Plato wrote:

<snip>
I would rewrite Confucius wisdom for writers to be:
"By three methods we may learn technical writing: First by education, which is
noblest; second by methodology, which is easiest; and third by planting your
butt in a chair and pecking out the damn document, which is the bitterest." -
Andrew Plato, raging dweeb. </snip>


Giggle, snort. In truth, that's how I've learned to be a tech writer. My very first job as a tech writer, I had to write a software user's guide. I had never done one, had no idea how to do it. And I had three weeks. The senior tech writer on the gig, who was also my mentor, gave me the template, gave me the guidelines, and turned me loose. She wasn't about to tell this raw neophyte you just can't do decent user doc in three weeks. I count that user guide as one of my major career accomplishments: not because it was the best thing I ever did, although it was quite good, but because I did it, did it well, and did it within the specified time frame. It's amazing what you can do when you don't know you can't do that.

I've learned most of what I know by planting my butt in a chair and figuring it out, muttering my way though the user doc of the tool I happen to be using at the time, pounding away at it until I do something right, bugging the developers as much as I can get away with. I work for me, so most of my training has been OTJ. so far, it seems to work.

Jo Byrd





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Re: Ever wonder why techwhirler lives seem so crazy?: From: Andrew Plato

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