TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: FrameMaker/RoboHelp Tutorials From:Camille Costa <ccosta01 -at- SPRYNET -dot- COM> Date:Sun, 28 Jun 1998 00:30:11 -0700
Jim,
I second Mary's suggestion. There are many companies that are willing to train you on
the job based upon the strength of your writing samples and a few that use specific
writing tools as a way to weed out candidates. An example from the latter was one
interviewer who seemed uninterested in looking at my hardcopy portfolio of
Ventura-written documentation, prefering instead to shmooze about how they did things in
RoboHelp. Then there was a help-wanted ad I spotted in the Chicago Tribune about the
same time that listed in under "required" skills FrameMaker, RoboHelp, BlatherMaster
(thanks, Andy), etc. Under "desired" it mentioned "writing ability." (Outside of
BlatherMaster, this is non-fiction: I had to read it over a few times to make sure I was
getting it right.)
Not to be discouraged, I thumbed through a PageMaker book in a local bookstore and
realized that trying to pick up something like FrameMaker and the like without hands-on
experimentation was not unlike attending trade school without ever picking up a wrench.
So I broke down and using my educational discount I was able to order FrameMaker 5.5
from my university bookstore for $260 versus $895 direct from Adobe. RoboHelp was tough
because I wasn't able to find a discounted version through the bookstore. I don't know
if Blue Sky offers such a deal through certain educational institutions. Luckily, I was
able to knock about $300 off RoboHelp 6.0 through Provantage (www.provantage.com)and
another $100 with a mail-in discount coupon. In my particular situation I thought it was
a worthwhile investment.
