Breaking In?

Subject: Breaking In?
From: Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>
To: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>, Harry Husted <husted -at- creatingwords -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 09:07:25 -0500

Harry Husted wondered: <<I have worked as a writer for years. I only worked as a technical writer for a very brief time (about one year out of nearly 20). I see ads for technical writers all the time but each job I see listed states you must have experience with the program or application they are using. How can i break into the technical writing field if every job lead specifies you must have experience with the program or system they are using?>>

How? By getting that experience. <g> You can find courses in most popular programs in just about any big city, or better still, save several hundred dollars and download a demo version of the software, then pick up a "For Dummies" or "Learn X in 7 days" type of book that teaches you how to use the software. In fact, many of these books contain the demo version on a CD tucked into the book, so you don't even have to download a copy.

Spend a week getting up to speed on the software, and use it to write a manual on the basics of using the software! By the end of the week, you'll have both basic skills in the software, and a portfolio item you can use to prove that you have those skills.

<<Should I focus my technical writing on nontechnical writing areas?>>

Focus on work that you'd love to do. For example: http://www.geoff- hart.com/resources/2006/finding-work.htm

Since it wasn't apparent to at least one reader of the article, I hasten to add that this article specifically avoids discussing things like Monster.com and other modern job-hunting tools: I figured everyone knows about these already, and that they've been written about in so much depth I had nothing new to say. Instead, I propose a bunch of things most people don't think of in their job search -- like finding out what you'd love to do before you try to find a job in that area.

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Geoff Hart ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca

(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)

www.geoff-hart.com

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References:
Breaking In: From: Harry Husted

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