Comment Re:hire a Technical Writer (Score 1) 401
Heh heh. I'll chalk it up to the poor font. Perhaps Slashdot needs to hire a Technical Writer to suggest more legible fonts for posts, especially for people like myself who have learning disabilities.
I will again disagree with the notion that your typical undergrad has the knowledge required to produce quality products. Sure, they can write. They can even do it well most of the time. But these students rarely have the advanced expertise of a grad student. As always, there are exceptions and YMMV. A few Technical Communications courses here and there are hardly enough to make you a good Technical Writer. But if you want to believe that, go right ahead. Perhaps the items you produce are part of why there is a misconception about qualified Technical Writers?
For example: a course in Framemaker does not make one an expert at writing user manuals that use cross references. Sure, any Frame student will know HOW to produce them, but will they know how to manage them long-term? And we all know most shops don't follow the rules we learned in skool. As for on the job training, well, that's not what we're talking about at all, as any job carries its own requirements and methods and no amount of schooling ever seems to be just right.
I will again disagree with the notion that your typical undergrad has the knowledge required to produce quality products. Sure, they can write. They can even do it well most of the time. But these students rarely have the advanced expertise of a grad student. As always, there are exceptions and YMMV. A few Technical Communications courses here and there are hardly enough to make you a good Technical Writer. But if you want to believe that, go right ahead. Perhaps the items you produce are part of why there is a misconception about qualified Technical Writers?
For example: a course in Framemaker does not make one an expert at writing user manuals that use cross references. Sure, any Frame student will know HOW to produce them, but will they know how to manage them long-term? And we all know most shops don't follow the rules we learned in skool. As for on the job training, well, that's not what we're talking about at all, as any job carries its own requirements and methods and no amount of schooling ever seems to be just right.