Re: Useful certifications in Tech Writing

[Erica <ericamhc -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Personally, I am very skeptical of A+ for anyone. Most of my friends are
long-time techs and will tell you A+ is a waste of time. The only ones I
know who seem to think it's worth the effort are cable installers and those
who have to take it to build computers in retail chains like Best Buy, where
all they do is install Windows and run anti-virus software. More people than
ever are just taking their computer into a retail chain rather than learning
how to fix it, and how many manuals need to be written on how to load
Windows, build a computer, or install a network? When companies want service
techs for their servers, they want MCSE's and Linux experience.

You've offered a really open question though, so I'm not sure if anything I
could suggest would apply. Are you a beginner, have you had a decade of
experience? What are you writing for - software, electronics, engineering,
medical products, financial systems?

I'm fairly new to the field, so I prefer to take a broader scope rather than
specializing in one thing. Getting an overview of programming structures or
financial systems is more applicable anywhere, offering a grounding in
terminology and experience that can be applied to specific companies. I have
found these infinitely more helpful because they reduce the time needed to
train me in particular systems. Since I already know the basics of how
programming works I can easily write about .Net or C+ software, and
translate it for developers or end users. I can write the developer
documentation and the user's CHM. With a background in web and graphics
design I can easily design a sharp looking CHM theme, manually modify it in
HTML, and design all the icons and graphics to go in it along with helping
to improve the interface of the software I'm actually writing about.

I think if anything, my tech writing experience has suggested we need to
have a broad scope of various elements of design and programming, audience
analysis, document design, outlining, and different help authoring systems,
so we remain flexible. When I'm ready for more courses I'm going into XML
and DITA and getting experience with single-sourcing environments, and
perhaps .Net. But I like to write for software and web interfaces, so maybe
I'm off base.

I'll be interested to see what everyone else has to add.

Cheers,
Erica

On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 2:11 PM, Ronquillo, Michael <mronquillo -at- equitrac -dot- com
> wrote:

> Anyone know any useful certs for Tech Writing? I'm thinking of taking
> the CompTIA A+ cert.
>
>
>
> Michael Ronquillo
>
> Technical Writer - Equitrac
>
> 1-800-472-9532 x2334
>
> mronquillo -at- equitrac -dot- com
>
>
>
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publish quality Help, Web, and print content. Perfect for technical 
authors, developers, and policy writers. Download a FREE trial.
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True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
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