Re: Documentation Architect vs. Technical Expert !

["Mike O." <obie1121 -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

Andrew Plato wrote:
> I typed "Frequency shift keying" into Google and just read 3 great
articles on
> it. There is ample information out there about the technology...
> You need to learn the science and technology behind the products you're
> documenting. It's just that simple.

I'm with Andrew on this, attitude-wise. But sometimes it is harder than
Andrew implies.

On a previous gig I documented server products that interacted with PLCs...
So I thought, no problem, I'll just get a PLC and learn it myself. But it
turned out that the targeted PLCs were very expensive, too much for me to
buy for that gig. Not only that, my client didn't even own a PLC. Their
engineers worked with the hardware on their customer sites - no peons
allowed. Fortunately, there were some software PLC simulators avalailable
for download. That was enough to get me going.

I don't know much about powerline carriers, but maybe you can get your hands
on a powerline modem installed in a separate box, and use that to try any
kind of applications or diagnostic tools designed to work with it. Try a
little social engineering - call some vendors and ask for evaluation units.

Mike O.