Reply to: Getting Started in Tech Writing

Subject: Reply to: Getting Started in Tech Writing
From: Chet_Cady -at- OCLC -dot- ORG
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 1993 15:14:30 EDT

CEO document conShort message
From: Chet Cady:CEO
Date: ## 04/05/93 15:15 ##
Tom,

My first question is "What technical industry to you want to work
in?" Do you =want= to work with PCs? Would you prefer to work in
avionics? Or the electrical power industry?

The thing is, each hiring official thinks you have to be an engineer
in the field you'll be documenting (when in fact the problem with so
much doc is that it =was= written by engineers). There are hiring
officials who have more sense (my first tech writing boss was one),
but I'm finding they're rare birds. What you have to do is prove
that you can write for the specific industry you're targeting. So if
your area has oodles of PC software companies, go to the library,
check out some documentation, translate it into English, and stick it
(and a copy of the techno-babble) in the envelope with your resume.
With no experience, you have to prove in that one opportunity that
you can write for that company. (And if you want to write for
another industry, find some doc from it and rewrite it.)

There's a starting point, at least. Chet Cady cady -at- oclc -dot- org

From: tjk -at- KELVIN -dot- CAE -dot- UWM -dot- EDU:smtp
Date: ## 04/05/93 14:43 ##
I'll be graduating in a scant month with a BA English, but with little
experience, unfortunately. While I've had experience with document
preparation under UNIX (school papers, etc.), I don't have much knowledge
of PC based applications. My education has concentrated heavily on technical
writing, applied writing, and I have the same foundation that engineering
students receive.

I had hoped my nine years as an electronics technician would make me more


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