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Subject:how to get APIs into your portfolio? From:Jonnie Pekelny <jonniep -at- peoplepc -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sun, 27 Oct 2002 04:39:58 -0800
Hello, all. I'm delurking on this list, for a question that may prove
quite important to my career. I've been a tech. writer for over ten
years, but have recently been unemployed. In my background I've written
all kinds of docs, including APIs, but, in the gay 90s, I never thought
to keep APIs for my portfolio. Reasons? APIs are usually big bulky and
boring books, written for very specialized audiences, difficult to
display in small fragments and not necessarily the best medium for
showing off a person's writing skills to a lay person -- IMO. So, I
never bothered keeping them for my samples. Big mistake.
It's now become apparent to me that I need to get at least one API
sample into my portfolio, since it's become increasingly difficult to
find jobs without "proving" that I can write APIs. (The big secret is
that APIs are actually some of the easiest books to write, since so many
of them are basically reference volumes).
In the past, all the items in my portfolio have come from documentation
I have written on the job, particularly the more technical samples.
That's not an option right now. And I can't volunteer to take six months
to write a programmer's guide from scratch for no pay. My question to
you all is, do you have any strategies or suggestions for how to go
about creating an API-type writing sample that shows that I can do that
type of writing? I welcome all opinions!
Thanks.
Jonnie Pekelny
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