RE: Absence of FrameMaker from your skill set -- what does it say?

Subject: RE: Absence of FrameMaker from your skill set -- what does it say?
From: "Connie Giordano" <connie -at- therightwordz -dot- com>
To: "'Ava Cassidy'" <ava -dot- m -dot- cassidy -at- gmail -dot- com>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:40:34 -0400

Ava,

I've been a successful technical writer for more than 25 years... I have
NEVER used Framemaker in any position, no matter how large the company. And
I'm pretty darned serious about my technical communications work. Only one
employer even included it in their software library (it was used by other
doc departments in the company, just not the one I worked in.) If I needed
it for a particular project or client, I would learn it, but it truly hasn't
come up. It's not the tools that make a great technical writer.

Reasonable skill sets include the ability to research, interview, plan,
organize, and write. I'd also include analytical skills such as audience
analysis, process analysis, business analysis and system analysis, but not
all are required in all types of technical writing. And, the ability and
desire to learn and use tools for content management and presentation, such
as structured authoring, word processing, DTP, graphics and animation, again
depending on the type of industry and communications that are needed.

Don't toss a resume just because a particular tool isn't on it, you may be
passing on someone who can be a valuable asset to your organization.

MTC


Connie P. Giordano
The Right Words, LLC
Communications & Information Design

http://www.therightwords.com
http://www.cowbellchallenge.org
http://www.uscup.net
connie -at- therightwords -dot- com
 
(704) 540-9985 (office)
(704) 957-8450 (mobile)
 
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible." - Walt Disney



-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+connie=therightwordz -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+connie=therightwordz -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Ava Cassidy
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 8:07 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Absence of FrameMaker from your skill set -- what does it say?

First, some background: Our company is in the midst of trying to create a
consistent tools strategy. Right now we have only a handful of writers, all
using different tools (I'm one of the writers and I use Frame, two others
use Word, and a fourth uses RoboHelp almost exclusively.) We do not have a
doc manager. All of the writers report to different engineering managers,
and there is no one in charge of a doc strategy.

There's a strong sentiment among some of our managers in favor
of standardizing on Frame. However, when we posted a job listing recently,
there were some different opinions over what it should say, and whether
FrameMaker should be listed as a requirement or as a plus. In the end, it
was not mentioned in the posting at all.

So, um, clearly many things are wrong with this picture, but my specific
question has to do with what's a reasonable skill set to expect from a
seasoned tech writer. I've been asked to help sort through the resumes, and
none that I've seen so far list FrameMaker as a skill (nor anything as
"fancy" as structured authoring). My question is: Does the lack of
FrameMaker on your resume suggest a lack of seriousness about the
profession? Or am I just being a total FrameMaker snob to even ask that?

If you're someone who doesn't like or doesn't want to use Frame, I apologize
if this is an offensive question! It's just that, at every company I've
worked at (three jobs, over a total of 10 years), we've used Frame as our
primary authoring tool, and the notion of possibly getting pushed into using
Word sends chills up my spine. And I'm just surprised to see so many resumes
that don't have it (even though our own job posting didn't ask for it).

thanks,
Ava
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control!
http://www.helpandmanual.com/

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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

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