newbie requests your feedback

Subject: newbie requests your feedback
From: "J. Wermont" <jwermont -at- NETCOM -dot- COM>
Date: Sat, 17 May 1997 11:12:17 -0700

Hello,

I'm somewhat new to this list, been lurking for about a week. I'm in
the midst of a career change, to technical writing from SW
engineering, and someone recommended that I get on this list. Great
idea! (Thanks, Karen!) I've already learned a lot just from my week
of reading your posts.

I would like to ask the list for some suggestions and feedback
regarding my career change. I've been a software engineer for the
past 14 years, am currently unemployed, and I've been using this time
off to think it over, make some decisions, and start the process of
job-hunting. Now that I've decided to focus on getting a tech writing
job, I'm pretty excited about it. What I need is some help with the
pragmatic stuff.

I've never had the word "writer" in any of my job titles, although I
have written many design specs, functional specs, test plans and
presentations throughout my career. My writing skills are very good
and, naturally, I have plenty of technical knowledge, so I think I
have some skills that would be attractive to a hiring manager in a
tech pubs group. My biggest issue is how to market myself, to
convince the folks who are hiring that I can do the job.

I have a bunch of different questions, and I thought I'd just put
them all into this one post. There's a lot here, so please feel free
to respond to any one or more of these questions. I figure that with
2500 of you out there, one way or another they'll all get covered. :-)

1. Resume

My resume details 14 years of software experience. I rewrote it to
add in the documents I've written, and I added a list of some of the
non-professional hobby writing (such as writing groups, classes) at
the end.

How much detail should I provide of my development experience? Do
tech writing managers want to see what I've developed, designed, and
implemented? Or would a summary of my tech experience be better, with
more of an emphasis on the documentation I've worked on? I do list
explicitly which software I've used (ie, tools, languages, operating
systems, etc), and what hardware I've worked on. I've also added a
list of the desktop publishing apps I've used to write specs.

From what I've seen on this list so far, it seems like functional
resumes are the preferred style. That's not the case for engineers -
they are a no-no in that field - so I still have mine in
chronological format. Do you think it would be worth my while to
re-do it in functional format? Can anyone recommend a good source for
writing functional resumes? I've never done it that way before.

2. Portfolio

On the advice of a few tech writer/editor friends, I'm compiling a
portfolio of technical writing I've done. I'd just like to describe
what I've got and get some feedback on it.

I've unearthed 5 specs from my file cabinet (hard copies - don't have
anything on-line!) that I think are usable. I've written more than
that, but there are many that I didn't save and I'm long gone from
the places where I wrote them. These 5 are pretty well-written and
give a fair sampling. I've taken between 3 - 7 pages from each, plus
a few pages of diagrams to go with some of the writing.

The whole thing is 32 pages long, including my resume, a table of
contents, a title page for each document excerpt, and the selected
material.

The title pages just have the name of the document, centered on the
page, with the name of the company and year I wrote it centered
underneath in smaller type. Below that are three paragraphs
summarizing: (1) who I was writing it for, (2) the basic subject
matter of the doc, and (3) what I did to prepare for writing it, ie,
research, learning, gathering info, etc.

Anything missing? Anything there that shouldn't be? What should go on
the front cover?

The whole thing is in a binder, with each page (2 pages, back to
back) enclosed in a plastic insert. I've asked two people about this,
and one says don't use the plastic inserts, and the other says, yes,
use them. So it's a tie. :-) What do folks on this list think about
that? I've already learned that no issue is too picayune for this
list! :-)

3. Job-hunting

One editor I spoke to said that it's easier for an editor with no
prior experience to start out with contracts, build up some
experience and then work their way to a full-time position (if that's
desired). Is that true for writers as well? It's definitely not the
case for SW engineers - engineering contractors are assumed to have
lots of experience behind them. I'm open to either contract or
full-time work so I'll pursue both avenues, but I was wondering if
one would be more worth my time.

So far, in looking for job leads, I've read the local jobs-offered
newsgroup, looked at the STC website (Silicon Valley chapter), talked
to friends and acquaintances, and worked on building up a network.
I'd also like to use a recruiter, or maybe a couple. Can anyone
recommend a good one to work with in the SF Bay Area, particularly
the South Bay? I know there are hundreds of them - but I'd really
like recommendations from other writers who've worked with them and
had success. In particular I need someone who'd be able and willing
to work with someone who's making a career transition and is new to
the field.

I know - there's a lot here! As I said, please don't feel expected to
answer *all* of it. Any response will be appreciated!

Thanks very much,

Joyce Wermont
jwermont -at- netcom -dot- com

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