Re: How to find first tw job?

["E. Gail Miedema" <egail -at- TELEPORT -dot- COM>]

Here's what worked for me.

1) I read every book that I could find in the local library about
   technical writing, limiting the selection to those published in
   the last 20 years. This numbered about 14 books.

2) I reviewed about 10 books on resume writing, and found one that
   was geared to help those with sketchy backrounds. I highly
   recommend it and still use it today.  (_Resume Power: Selling
   Yourself on Paper_ by Tom Washington.)

3) I took a couple of summer technical writing courses at the local
   university making sure the topics covered *currently*
   marketable skills in the field, such as writing for multimedia
   and information technology for writers. These I listed under
   "Professional Workshops" on my resume.

4) I put together writing samples which consisted of school
   writing projects, a web page, and *made up* technical writing
   projects (such as rewriting and simplifying my VCR's user guide).

5) I gathered together some reference material that I could take
   along with me on any job I might get sent. At first, because I
   had little money, this consisted of key pages of reference books,
   from step #1, photocopied and bound in a three-ring binder.
   (Incidentally, I still have that binder and use it occassionally,
   even though I have since bought all the books I referenced there.)
   Once I had some cash I bought as a basic reference set:
        _Science of Technical Writing_ by Philip Rubens
        _Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications_
        _The Bedford Handbook for Writers_
        _The Columbia Guide to Standard American English_
        _Managing Your Documentation Projeces_ by JoAnne T. Hackos
        _Illustrating Computer Documentation_ by William Horton
        _Designing and Writing Online Documentation_ by William Horton
        _Webster's Tenth Collegiate Dictionary_

6) I read and followed the advice in Peter Kent's book for freelance
   technical writers, which has recently been updated and retitled.
   (_Making Money in Technical Writing_)

The result was that I received my first contract within two weeks of
mailing my resume to agencies. I contracted for about five months then
took a permanent position. I have done some freelance moonlighting
occassionally since then and plan to eventually return to full-time
contracting. (The project I'm working on continues to provide me with the
opportunity to develop and use new skills, and I probably will stay on it
until that changes.)

One element that I had in my favor was a background, 10 years prior, of
computer programming. This gave me an edge in the tech writing business.
If I had not had that experience, I would have added a couple of high tech
courses (such as operations or programming) to the "professional workshop"
courses I took.

I hope this helps. Good luck. I'd like to hear how it goes for you.

Cheers!
--E. Gail Miedema


On Mon, 21 Sep 1998, Roy Aney wrote:

> I've been lurking about the list for a while and though I see a lot of
> posts concerning employment I've not seen anything that would pass as
> advice or guidance to the aspiring tw seeking work for the first. How do
> I overcome the "Only those with experience need apply" mentality and
> find that rarest of commodities - a first job/assignment?
> TIA
> an aspiring TW
> Roy Aney
>
>
> From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000==
>
>


 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=