Re: Portfolios of samples as Interviewing criteria

["Jo Francis Byrd" <jbyrd -at- byrdwrites -dot- com>]

Or you might have the same problem I'd have with an application I documented
several years ago (both hardcopy and online). I knew the application better
than anyone in the company, I could tell you exactly how to work in it. What
I didn't know was WHY I'd ever want to use it. I had no clue as to the
business purpose (none of us did. A new feature would appear, I'd ask the
developer what it was, he'd show me how it work, I'd ask why it was there,
what it did, and he'd respond, "they told me to add it.").

Maybe it's a good thing the legal department came unglued when I asked
permission to use it in my portfolio and refused permission (EVERYone wanted
this application, it was top secret, couldn't let anyone see it, you know.
In their dreams).

Jo Byrd

From: "John Posada" <JPosada -at- book -dot- com>
Subject: RE: Portfolios of samples as Interviewing criteria


> I find writing samples to be useful because I now always ask the writer
what the product does. I'm surprised at how many people cannot tell me
something succinct and descriptive about the product they were writing
about. It seems to me that someone bringing a sample to an interview should
be able to fully talk about the sample, and that would include knowing
something about what the product is and how it works.>

I don't know if I agree with this part.

In the 10 years that I've been writing stuff, I've written about some pretty
obscure software and applications. In my portfolio, which has about 40
different pieces, I have a Release Note for a UNIX tool that was home-grown
by the client for internal use. It is pretty impressive and if you are
looking for me to have some experience writing Release Notes, this will
satisfy the requirement.

However, having written it 5-6 years ago, I couldn't remember what the
application did to save my life. I researched it, I wrote it, I got it
approved, I deployed the documentation, and I went on to the next
deliverable.  Unless I need to revisit something I've written about, I
cannot afford the limited amount of mental storage that I have left for
something I don't need to remember....I'm having trouble remembering the
things I DO need to remember.

I'd venture to say that if you can remember off the top of your head what
everything you wrote about during you career as a writer did, you either
haven't written much or you haven't been writing long.



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