Re: Future Tech Writer with Software Questions

[Ed <glassnet -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Rick's replies cover a lot of the areas I was thinking of...

Here's my one-acronym response: XML. However, you won't find one approach
that's covered by a single tool. You can become an expert in FM, Word,
Arbortext, etc., but there's no guarantee it will help you land a contract
position.

My experience has been that most writing jobs are tool-focused. You enter
an area and a pile of stuff awaits you. They use Word. You must fix the old
docs. For some writers that is a nightmare scenario, they want the world to
be pure. Purchase the MSO student version while you can. Also use free
Libreoffice, to see how that competes with MSO.

As for manufacturing world opportunity, the amount of mechanical writing
work has been diminishing for a very long time. In your geo-location things
might be different, I admit. Still, be prepared to flex your skills in
order to pick other fruit. My writing career went from military to mill to
wholesale to medical to military to pharm to security.

Open up indeed.com and type in technical writer. Count the jobs. Add
framemaker, and count. Should you buy FM? Try other searches and build a
knowledgebase for yourself.

Good luck with your search.
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