Slashdot Mirror
Desperately Seeking Documentation?
Interrobang asks: "I'm a longtime Slashdot reader, who isn't a programmer. I'm one of programmers' symbiotic (parasitic?) life-forms -- a freelance technical writer. I'd like to know from the programmers, IT managers, and similar others in the crowd: If you were searching the Internet for a technical writer, what kinds of search terms would you use? What sites would you check? Where and how would you start looking?"
1. Post a query to "Ask Slashdot"
2. Wait for the jobs to roll in
3. Profit!
I live in an area that's got plenty of technical writers looking for work. They have to go the old-fashioned route, look for a job like the rest of us.
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -Albert Einstein
...I'd probably Google for "a life".
But seriously, you want us to write your C.V. too?
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
Looking for a job ? ... Ask Slashdot!
I believe that elsewhere the editor would be sacked for letting this rubbisch get through. Hm, we might have a recursive problem on our hands here if he in his turn would start looking for work on Slashdot.
Arghl.
Using your precious /. link to optimize for an obscure punctuation mark instead of "Technical writer". :)
we recently hired a tech writer who answered our listing on craigslist. bigger companies would have an HR dept take care of this, but we're small and wanted somebody quickly/cheaply. turned out she was somewhat well-qualified so we took a chance on her, and it's worked out pretty well so far.
Is there some rocket science I'm missing here, or is this just the usual lame Ask Slashdot from Cliff?
Advice: on VPS providers
You need to network to find editors, not just toss out open calls via slashdot. There are several organizations for different writing specialities (computer tech writing, medical tech writing, business s/w documentation, game writing) as well as local writing groups. Think of it as joining the Guild for your special quest.
/. work. Hey, hire me to! I do tech _and_ science writing! Visit ghostlibrary.com for details! *plug* *plug*
For example, I mostly do science writing (with a little tech writing also). So being in the Nat. Assoc. of Science Writers (NASW) is helpful, but so is the local branch (DCSWA). Mostly the online part of these groups is talking with peers, but they sponsor events where writers can meet editors-- and that's where you get work.
Plus, being a member is handy to list on resumes, shows you take your work seriously.
Someone else mentioned Craigslist, that's not bad for one-shot tech writing. If you just need to get some clips (samples of paid published work), WritersWeekly is a newsletter that lists poor-paying work by desperate companies (well, that's my take on their ads) that can at least get you some samples.
Also check magazines that cover your field, as their classifieds often list calls for work. You can check their online editors or just spend an afternoon at a decent library.
Then again, maybe open calls to
A.
I'd start off with "technical writer". This means I understand your role in the process. Therefore it is unlikely that I can help you now determine what a person would search for if they didn't know what they really wanted. Which is what you seem to be after. Sort of a "Dummies guide to making stuff people won't read about my cool project/product/website"
However, as an engineer, lack of stupid has never prevented me from attempting to pretend to that blessed state, so:
I'd search by using the terms of what you 'sell', or the expected output of your work:
Document, manual, quick start guide, etc.
Then I'd move on to what kind of work I expect you to be doing:
Editor, editing, illustration, diagram, explanation, explain, etc.
Then I'd write it myself, pass it around to my friends, and focus on making a better product instead of paying someone to do something that I, a stupid person, could easily and readily do.
Quite frankly, however, I'd suggest that you carfully choose how to represent yourself. If you really want to work with people who have now idea how you fit into their process, you're only going to make your job very hard, and typically (unless you can truly educate them so they understand your value) they won't want to pay you what you're worth.
Take it slow, and go for those people who know what role you are going to play. There's still a ton of work you'll need to do in educating even these customers, but you'll find yourself spending more time working on the project than working on the customer.
-Adam
Well, the first places to check are all the old standards: Workopolis, Monster, LinkedIn. I would also try Orkut now, but I'm a hardcore Google Fanboy (though the countdown to evil began a while ago). The search terms - well, that's easy. I'd try "technical writer" first and nothing second. If someone cannot make their resume found when I type "technical writer" then they aren't that technical and I'm not hiring them.
The second place to check would be any local sites that may post classifieds-ish things.
So here's my general answer to the questions? Where do I check? The place that resumes get posted.
Of course, next time you have a question like this, I suggest that you jfgi...
If Google was up to it, I'd search
Hmm.
Too bad I'm not in the market for a technical writer at the moment.
But seriously, I suppose I would look for "technical writer," or "technical writing service" unless (as in fact, is likely) I had more specific requirements, e.g. "software documentation authors" or "product testing and documentation services."
Which brings up a good point: I personally don't like to hire dedicated "documenters" because, no matter how good they are at writing, the results tend to be vacuous unless you can get them really engaged with the product. Instead, I tent to look for writers who will also do tech support or testing, so that they get a real feel for the product rather than just regurgitating a grammatical paraphrase of what the engineer told them over the cube wall.
I tried the documentation / sales force combination once, but wound up not using any of the results until the following April, when we used a few sample paragraphs and our lawyer's attempt at a rewrite in an April fools memo.
--MarkusQ
I'd be looking for technical writing, in the flesh, not "technical writing" as a search term. You'll need some sort of portfolio or writing sample if you make it to an application anyhow.
Since Interrobang neglected to link her site and thus reify your joke... behold the glory!:P
(Disclaimer: We go back a-ways in the Slashdot journalling community.^-^)
My other body is also not wearing any.
I don't look for a technical writer, I look for technical writing. If you wanted to pimp your technical writing skills to me you should write some excellent documentation for various open source projects. Then just add a little note that you wrote the documentation and will write more for money. If you do this for the right projects, i.e: those which very desperately need good documentation, you might really make a hit. That's of course assuming you write very good stuff.
Another good thing to do is write lots of HOWTO: type stuff on a blog somewhere and get your stuff up on digg and slashdot every week. Someone who needs writing will be sure to notice.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
symbiotic parasitic life-forms
If Happy Fun Ball begins to smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelter and cover head.
Description
Your Environment:
The IBM Toronto Laboratory is one of the largest software development sites in IBM and the fourth largest R&D facility in Canada. A dynamic team of 2,500 highly skilled professionals, who develop, test, service and market our software products, are among the most talented in the industry. The Toronto Lab has worldwide missions within IBM for database management, application development tools, electronic commerce, and business components. These software products run on all IBM systems (xSeries, iSeries, pSeries, and zSeries) using a wide variety of operating systems, including AIX, Linux, HP-UX, Sun Solaris, Microsoft Windows and z/OS.
Your Team:
Compilation Technology Development develops and maintains leading edge C, C++ and Fortran compilers that enable businesses to develop their mission critical applications or products. These compilers are available on AIX and Linux on POWER. In addition, the C and C++ compilers are available on OS/400 and z/OS.
The C, C++ and Fortran Information Development team delivers documentation for IBM's XL C++ products and for XL Fortran products. Examples of the documentation written by the team can be found at http://www.ibm.com/software/awdtools/xlcpp/library /
Your Role:
This Information Developer position offers an opportunity to collaborate with developers, testers, service analysts and other technical writers at IBM's new software development facility in Markham, Ontario.
Using skills in writing and organization and applying your technical aptitude to a product under development, you'll contribute to a future release of IBM application development tools and compilers; products that provide the foundation for e-business.
The work will allow you to gain exposure to object-oriented languages and compiler technology. You will also be using leading-edge technologies and tools to produce your information deliverables.
This position requires strong English writing skills and a proven ability to understand and explain highly technical information from design documents,architecture documents and product drivers in progress. Knowledge of one of C, C++ or Fortran languages; Unix, z/OS, USS or Linux operating systems is required. To be successful, you must possess strong writing skills and a proven technical aptitude. It is essential that you have the ability to take initiative, and always work in a pro-active manner with colleagues at all levels.
Make a web page. State your areas of specialty. Give a mission statement and post samples of your work. Explain how technical writers equal cost savings and work safety. Explain how hiring a professional technical writer can save money in client tech support by ensuring quality and palatability of the prose and layout. Give examples of places you've worked and how you improved their workflow. Ask former clients kindly for testimonials. Associate yourself with a guild like the STC or a local faction since this is often the first place prospective employers will look (or at least troll their job listings). It's a fact of life, however, that the people who need tech writers the most don't know that they need them. It sucks, but nothing beats cold calling business that reflect your specific areas of expertise. Throwing a few bucks to Google AdWords couldn't hurt either.
Check out Managing Your Documentation Projects by Joanne Hackos (or just read the first few pages) for some great selling points to quote to potential clients.
Since the CS students are outsourcing their coding to others, it's likely that lots of students will want to outsource their "documentation" as well. Can you do book reports and research papers as well?
I'd be searching for the TLAs relating to the technologies that I'd need writing on. If my product was a user-extensible CMS developed in PHP, my search would probably be for a tech writer with experience in CMS documentation, PHP and XHTML development, and CSS experience. Mostly, I'd expect that my techwriter was basically someone who had the skills to be on dev team, but who's talent is English prose, not code.
As a programmer, I admit that actually writing the documentation can be the most annoying and time-consuming part of creating a finished program, and I can procrastinate forever, adding tiny features to the program instead of spending my time writing boring English, but why should I hire a technical writer? When my progam is more-or-less done, I am the only person on the planet who knows how every single feature works, what all the hidden shortcut keys or shift/control+mouse click operations may do, and what the whole expected behaviour of any option is supposed to be.
How could I possibly explain all of this to a technical writer to have documentation written, without just writing the documentation myself? Sure there are comments in the code, but they're not going to help write a idiot-friendly tutorial very much. Sure I have some planning scratch-pad-like text files or paintbrush image doodles of my ideas, but they might not fully represent all of the features, or even a particular feature in their final existing form anymore.
I really loathe writing documentation, but unless the person helping my write it is involved in the entire program creating phase, sitting right there beside me the entire time, watching all of the features evolve, I don't think they'll be able to write complete help files.
Morphing Software
"I live in an area that's got plenty of technical writers looking for work. They have to go the old-fashioned route, look for a job like the rest of us."
I don't think that kicking in doors, and dragging bosses out to an interview will work.
What I was looking for is answers like yours. The problem with just snarking off and saying I'm "looking for jobs on Slashdot" (I'm not; most of you are not my target market) is that well, most of you are not my target market. On the other hand, a lot of you will know things about places to look that I may not have thought of, which is why I think your comment is really useful and informative, despite what one might call "a slight tone problem." I'm going to be tracking down the science writing organization you mention, not because I do science writing, but because they probably know something that would be useful to me.
As it stands, I'm networked in with the local STC chapter, the local IABC chapter, belong to two technical writers' mailing lists (TECHWR-L and Techshoret), and I am also networked into the local small business community through the London Small Business Centre and Fanshawe College, where I instructed for a term. However, while that gives me an excellent local grounding, it doesn't do much for wider exposure. Since most of my clients are not in the local area at this point, I now need to focus more on expanding my network outward nationally and internationally.
While I find the local exposure has been good for me, it's useful to have concrete examples of stuff I haven't yet found in my wanderings (you folks collectively can and have hit a lot more sites than I), and it's always useful to have different eyes looking at any given problem.
I'm not a geek, I'm just a clever script.
Maybe it's just as important where you post as what you say...
"Can there be a Klein bottle that is an efficient and effective beer pitcher?"
Technical writers need not apply.
If a company has some extra money to spend on head count, who are they going to hire? You, or another engineer?
For the same reason most companies don't have a 2:1 ratio of testers to developers (more likely, 1:50 testers to developers), most companies don't have a technical writer.
You might as well write a book about how to document your own code better. You'd probably make more money than you are now.
The radical sect of Islam would either see you dead or "reverted" to Islam.
If I needed a technical writer, the first place I'd check would be the dumpsters...then move to some seedy bars. But seriously, I'd probably google it.
Tell me something...it's still "We, the people"... right?
If you were searching the Internet for a technical writer, what kinds of search terms would you use? What sites would you check? Where and how would you start looking?
I've hired or been involved in hiring a number of technical writers. The first step to finding one, as with most other employees, is to ask within the company for referrals. The majority of coders and writers hired are someone recommended. Failing that, I generally post an ad and look through some of the common job sites or ask contacts at the STC and local universities. Search terms I might include would depend upon the job. If it is another writer to supplement a team I might look for experience with the tools they are expected to use or the particular skills that are needed. I might search for 'Framemaker' or ''internationalization' or 'XML' along with generic terms like 'technical writer.' I might look for experience with similar subject matter, like telecommunications or C++.
All of this is probably not too helpful to you, but given that you did not really describe your goals, it is the best I can offer. Good luck.
I believe the intent of the question is that he wants to place the terms that people look for into his own web page or job listing so that he may easily be found. After all, if you're going to market yourself, wouldn't you want to know how people would look for you if they had to?
While I don't have any tips on what search words to use, I do know what I would look for in a technical writer.
Hopefully you might find some of that useful.
From the logs on my website (I'm a freelance tech writer), it seems people aren't searching for technical writer or tech writer... they're searching for the actor with the same name as mine, the musician with the same name as mine or names/terms that happen to be on my quotes page. Other than that, clicks to my website tend to come from clickthroughs from my email sig when I post on a mailing list or from referrals from a couple sites I post my credentials on. All things considered, the website seems to have ended up really just a loss-leader and vanity project.
Personally, if I were you, I would consider which field you wanted to be in. If you are limiting yourself just to the IT field, then start looking at major companies with the money to hire permanent Tech Writers. Smaller companies that only need them occasionally will probably hire them on a contractual basis.
You may wish to consider other fields with large companies. Or just be a contractor. Or find another career choice.
"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet." General James Mattis
man oh man
But we all know that companies aren't intelligent about who they hire. If they were smart, they would hire 5 $15/hour testers instead of a developer. If they were smart, I'd have a personal secretary to help me keep on my meeting schedules, and even attend to take notes in my absence, and read my email for me.
The radical sect of Islam would either see you dead or "reverted" to Islam.