Re: Technical Writers and Programming Skills

[Alexia Prendergast <alexiap -at- SEAGATESOFTWARE -dot- COM>]

I was going to open with "belated response", but
I just realized you posted this yesterday. Been a
looong couple o' days :)

Quick answer: I find it necessary to be able to
read languages more than actually write code.
Understanding scripting languages (perl, e.g.)
has served me well. Ditto for SQL. Understanding
OO A&D has been essential, not only for documenting
OO systems, but also applying it to doc theory.

I've taught myself most of this stuff through books
and taken advanced classes when useful. (As someone
pointed out, the Java in 21 days book was rife with
error -- but I learn quickly when I have to trouble-
shoot. ;)  I spend time developing both writing and
technical skills.

There have been times when I've documented stuff
straight from source code. Most of the time, I doc
from the application, then go into the source and
make sure I'm not missing anything. It's been a
pretty foolproof way of doing things.

A.




--
Alexia Prendergast
Senior Technical Writer
Seagate Software
alexiap -at- sems -dot- com

>----------
>From:  Mike Collier - SSG[SMTP:MikeCol -at- SBSERVICES -dot- COM]
>Sent:  Tuesday, May 13, 1997 2:28 PM
>To:    TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
>Subject:       Technical Writers and Programming Skills
>
>I have a couple of questions for technical writers who use programming
>skills in their jobs. I'm talking about software development languages
>such as C++, Java, Visual Basic, and C.
>
>What level of programming knowledge is required of you in your work ?
>For example, are you required to be able to read blocks of code and
>explain what it is doing, and/or do you write code samples for use as
>examples?
>
>If you've recently learned a programming language, have you been able to
>learn effectively and apply what you've learned from books of the "Learn
>[whatever] in 21 Days" variety?  What other means have you used to learn
>programming?
>
>What is more important to spend your time on-- developing and refining
>programming skills, or other technical writing skills, such as using
>document production software and writing and editing ?
>
>If you (or if you would) hire technical writers with programming skills,
>how would you evaluate their skills in a job interview (e.g., explain
>the inputs and outputs of a block of code, comment a block of code,
>write a simple program, etc.)
>
>I have seen some help wanted ads looking to hire technical writers who
>can write user documentation straight from the application's source code
>(I assume without analysis, design or other project documents to use as
>reference).  Isn't this asking too much, even of a skilled technical
>writer with modest programming skills?  If you've done this, how did it
>go?
>
>Thanks
>
>Michael Collier
>mikecol -at- sbservices -dot- com
>
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