TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
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Unless you're planning to document software for an audience of
programmers, you can forget about the programming languages -- nice to
know, but inessential. Java, C#, and C++ are the most important
development languages.
We deal a lot with single-sourced, topic-based information, so
understanding XML and DITA is essential. For your own use, you might
want to learn Perl or Python. You never know when you'll need to
manipulate documents in ways that your authoring tools don't support.
Visual communication is an essential part of technical communication.
Tufte covers the principles, but you should also read Dan Roam's Back
of the Napkin. If you're anywhere near Berkeley, you can come to
tomorrow's STC meeting to hear Jeff Johnson, author of GUI Bloopers
talk about his new book, Designing with the Mind in Mind.
Tools are a secondary issue, but many potential employers expect you
to know FrameMaker or RoboHelp. Flare is beginning to make some
inroads. In most cases you won't need web authoring tools, but a basic
understanding of HTML often comes in handy. Basic blogging tools (I
know they're more than that) like WordPress may be all you need. You
probably don't need to know PHP and MySQL or anything about
webservers, but it can't hurt. ...RM.
On Tue, Dec 7, 2010 at 3:44 AM, Phil <philstokes03 -at- googlemail -dot- com> wrote:
> 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?
--
Richard Mateosian <xrm -at- pacbell -dot- net>
Berkeley, California
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