Re: Examining proficiency of job applicants in FrameMaker

[kcronin -at- daleen -dot- com]

Bonnie wrote:

> If a person knows FrameMaker, he or she should know how to use
> conditional text. 

Why? When I last used Frame, I had no need for conditional text. It's a
neato feature, and certainly useful, but may or may not fall within a
pro's experience, depending on how they've used Frame in other jobs. I'd
be scrod if you made me do that in a test.

I think you could get a good idea of a person's Frame knowledge by just
TALKING to them. That way, you don't have to account for the different
ways they may use the Frame interface, choice of keyboards, etc.

I know when I've interviewed writers, I had a list of interview questions
that gave me a pretty good read on how well they knew Word.

That said, I think you can also easily train somebody to use these tools
in a minimal amount of time. It ain't rocket surgery. If somebody is
roughly familiar with a tool, I can get them up to the speed I need them
at in a day or so, usually by giving them an assignment in which they'll
encounter most of the challenges that require the skills I want them to
master. Tool knowledge is overrated, IMO, because it's easily learned and
passed on.


Keith Cronin
lobbying for BeerMaker 6.0