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Subject:RE: my meeting with employer From:Paul Hanson <PHanson -at- Quintrex -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 28 Nov 2003 06:55:00 -0600
<de-lurking>
Have you looked at the documents they are talking about? Given their
projections, I would have asked to see some examples of their documentation
to see if their estimate was applicable to me. For example, I maintain
thousands of pages of documentation. However, several hundred pages have not
had a single change in 2003. Some systems here are perfect as they are, I
guess. <grin> I don't think I would get "upset" re: this experience. I would
use it as a learning experience. If I was asked to do a translation test
from English to French, I would have immediately asked what this test had to
do with the position. And if there was no clear connection, why waste time?
Let's get to the turkey and dressing of the job and talk specifics. Being in
a Q/A session re: your skills, CV and "all" sounds reasonable. And at the
risk of sounding like someone else on this list, if you're a technical
writer, shouldn't you be expected to jump in? Isn't that why they would be
interested in you? I'm regurgitating what has been said on this list in
similar threads when I say if you are thrust into a situation like this, you
just start writing, researching, and learning while you crank out the docs
that you are being paid to write.
Good luck. I sincerely wish you luck in your career pursuits.
<snip>
He then told me that the job consists of 3 months, 3 projects and about a
ton of documents to edit, write and maintain. I told him that 3 months would
never be enough for so much work. There is no training and no company
overview once you are hired. You go straight to the writing. Now, what is
that upsets me, is that they are unrealistic. He also mentioned that I am
not the first person to say that 3 months for 3 projects is impossible.
<snip>
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