Re: Testin Time

[Mike Christie <mikec -at- LUNA -dot- SYNTEL -dot- COM>]

> Todate I have received 87 notes on this subject. Obviously a hot potato.
> Lets go for the 100.
   <snip>
> My message to all contributors is keep it up.

OhhhhKayyyyyy.......

When I interviewed for my current position I was asked to do a writing
test on my very first interview. The test was to describe a specific
feature of the copmany's software. I was given a terminal, the software
loaded with that feature up, a brief description, and the OS/2 text editor.
Since I was interviewing for the position as sole technical writer in a
company where the developers were extremely busy, it seemed like a
reasonable thing to ask. On my second inteview, with a software engineer,
there was a diagram of the software's architecture on the white board.
He walked me through the diagram, after which I had to put it into writing.
Again, fair enough. I was only being asked to do what I would be doing once
hired.

About the same time, I interviewed at a major Silicon Valley firm for
which I desperately wanted to work. I went in for the interview only to
discover, once I got there, that I was to spend the entire day there.
Part of that day included a writing and editing test. I didn't mind that.
What I really minded was not being told in advance that I would be spending
the whole day there. But, since it was a company I really wanted to be part
of, I didn't let it bother me. Besides, I met some *really* nice people,
they bought me lunch, and it got me out of the office for a day from a
job I really disliked. In the end, they felt obligated to make an
internal transfer to fill the position, but since after that there's been
major reorganization and layoffs, it all worked out just fine anyway. And
my willingness to take those two writing tests I described above helped
me land my job here. (In fact, the manager who hired me actually gave me
a choice in that first interview. After speaking with him, talking to
another employee, then going back to him, he said "We can take a test, or
we can quit." There was no my question in my mind - I'm not one to turn
down a challenge. But the fact that I could have said, in effect, at that
point, "No I don't think this company is for me" made it all the more fair.)

The bottom line is a tech writer must be able to think on his/her feet
(even when sitting down...). I know I've experienced a number of
occassions when someone has come into my office and said something
like "People [perhaps beta testers] are confused about xyz, and we need
to ship a 3 or 4 page description of how this really works along with the
release. Tomorrow." The tests I was given were, I felt, a
fair way to evaluate one or two parts (but only one or two) of the skill
set required for the job. Since I interviewed with five people and our
discussions were fairly wide-ranging, I felt like they got close to the
whole picture with respect to what I could offer the company. Nor do I
feel that the tests were given disproportionate weight in the decision
making pocess. After all, they made the right decision. ;-)

All this is actually worth mulling over, since the threat of impending
layoffs is looming over us, and I'm preparing myself for having to go
through the whole process again. *sigh*

Mike Christie
Technical Writer
Syntelligence Systems, Inc.
mikec -at- syntel -dot- com