Hi Raj, You wrote, "Those who use a tool for basic purposes may be left behind or have to seek other avenues to enhance their knowledge. In a country like India, it is easily said than done."
Maybe a person who only uses a tool for basic purposes deserves to be left behind. As technical writers, we should be using every available opportunity to hone our skills. If employers are going to put an emphasis on tools, technical writers would be wise to make themselves versatile with the most popular tools to put themselves in the best position when employers ask for experience with a particular tool. I suggest building a portfolio with samples illustrating your skills with different applications that seem to be in demand. In life, we find all sorts of situations where it would be nice to force others to change. Instead of trying to change the world, work on changing how you interact with the world and adapt to situations when life presents challenges. We might not be able to change how employers choose to hire, at least not in the short term, but we can create a solution that depends on things we can control (like our skill set). Many TW applications are available for a 30 day trial. Download a trial version and spend several evenings per week working with it. That's at least one way to get started. One word of caution, Madcap trial versions include random characters in generated output. Producing credible samples might be challenging. You might be able to persuade someone with a licensed copy to take your files to generate clean deliverables for you. An alternative would be to include a disclaimer stating that the random characters are included to discourage unauthorized re-use of your samples. I'd avoid that situation if possible. Tom Johnson 231-944-7454 tajohn...@microlinetc.com From: raj nair [mailto:raj_gree...@hotmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 7:54 AM To: Thomas Johnson; tcp@techcommpros.com Subject: RE: [TCP] Technical writing and tools Hi Tom, You have got my question right. For people looking to switch jobs, emphasis on tools may act as a stumbling block, whereas everything else will appear right for him or her. While writing skills can be checked, others such as interviewing skills, research abilities, organisational skills, team player mentality, and people management skills are not evaluated properly. I feel that learning tools is much easier than learning new and complex technologies. Moreover, in a team, all tech writers may not be using a tool to an expert level. Those who use a tool for basic purposes may be left behind or have to seek other avenues to enhance their knowledge. In a country like India, it is easily said than done. Raj > From: tajohn...@microlinetc.com > To: raj_gree...@hotmail.com; tcp@techcommpros.com > Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2010 12:37:56 -0400 > Subject: RE: [TCP] Technical writing and tools > > Is there ANY industry that has settled on one tool? > > Too many employers emphasize tool skills and don't place enough emphasis on > critical thinking. Instead, they should be looking at real qualities like: > the ability to think, writing skills, and organizational skills. If technical > writers cannot learn how to use different tools, how can they ever hope to > learn about new technology well enough to write about it? > > > Tom Johnson > 231-944-7454 > tajohn...@microlinetc.com > > > -----Original Message----- > From: tcp-boun...@techcommpros.com [mailto:tcp-boun...@techcommpros.com] On > Behalf Of raj nair > Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 3:04 AM > To: tcp@techcommpros.com > Subject: [TCP] Technical writing and tools > > > Hi All, > > > > Does multiple tools restrict the opportunities available for technical > communicators? Why is that there is no single standard tool for the technical > writing industry? > > > > Raj Nair > ______________________________________________ ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word or HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals. Download Free Trial. www.doctohelp.comhttp://www.techcommpros.com/componentone/ Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com _______________________________________________ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email t...@techcommpros.com. Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to tcp-subscr...@techcommpros.com Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to tcp-unsubscr...@techcommpros.com Need help? Contact listad...@techcommpros.com Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
