Re: Essential software/programming skills for TC?

[Janet Swisher <jmswisher -at- gmail -dot- com>]

On Tue, Dec 7, 2010 at 5:44 AM, Phil <philstokes03 -at- googlemail -dot- com> wrote:
> While I accept that in some sense this 'unanswerable' being dependent on employers/industries, I would nevertheless appreciate opinions on the following:
>
> What are the essential software/programming skills a new tech communicatior MUST possess?
>
> To give some context, I've been a 'writer' in various capacities for many years, needing little other than Word to do my work. Now in my 40s, I'm "retraining" in the sense of doing an MA in Tech Comm. While the MA is great for the 'soft' skills (theory of ID, Comm Planning, Audience Analysis, Usability etc) I find myself overwhelmed when looking at the trade in the variety of software/programming skills discussed. To name a few: QuarkXP, InDesign, Framemaker, Flare, RoboHelp, Dreamweaver, XML, Html, Java, Python, various C languages, Json, JQuery - and those are just off the top of my head.
>
> Which, if any of these (and if not these, what else?) can I _NOT_ afford to have missing from my CV/Resume?
>

Phil,

You should think in terms of *categories* of tools, and learn at least
one tool from each category very well. The categories I would consider
essential in the software industry (other industries may differ) are:

* Authoring tool for print-oriented comprehensive texts. FrameMaker
tends to be the gold standard in this category, but many TWs work for
years in Word or other tools. If you don't learn FrameMaker, make sure
you know the advanced, book-oriented features of Word, such as headers
and footers, TOCs, and indexes.

* A help-authoring tool, such as RoboHelp, Flare, or AuthorIT.

* A presentation-independent mark-up language. At a minimum, learn
HTML and CSS, as they are widely used. To be on the cutting edge,
focus on HTML5 and CSS3. You can also learn an XML syntax such as DITA
or DocBook, but not in place of HTML.

* A graphics editing tool. Know the difference between bitmap and
vector graphics, and when to use each. Preferably become familiar with
a tool for each type.

* A source-control system (e.g., VSS, Subversion, Mercurial).

Knowing something about programming is not essential to being a
techwriter, but in my opinion it definitely helps in the software
industry. You do not have to become a programmer, but it helps if you
can read code and understand programmer-speak. If you learn to program
in one language, you can learn to use any other language. Finding a
good teacher, course, or book is more important that what the language
is.

--Janet
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