Re: What is ADP?

[Ad absurdum per aspera <JTCHEW -at- LBL -dot- GOV>]

>> Critters like yourself, who find it easier
>> to post questions like these than look in the dictionary.

> I tend to agree with Pete's comment - anyone who wants to work as a
> technical writer in this field must be able to look up these things!

Well... I daresay I could figure out what had to be figured,
even though "adenosine diphosphate" and "Defense Nuclear
Agency" were the first interpretations that flashed into
my mind.  Many acronyms have multiple uses even in the same
field, and many are more or less internal to some company
but nonetheless make it into job ads.

I, too, thought the first remark excerpted above to be a bit
on the catty side, although I must admit that the full response
was quite clever.

Back to the original posting:  the company seems to want an
"entry-level" writer who nonetheless has a highly specific
array of arcane knowledge about their subject matter (which
might, or might not, be DECnet, depending on how you interpret
the acronyms).  One can read any of several things between the
lines, such as:

* They have an exaggerated idea of what an entry-level writer
  can be expected to know.
* They figure times are hard and if they fish long enough
  they'll catch an experienced writer, and something of a
  subject-matter expert as well, for an entry-level salary.
* They're really after a programmer with some writing skills,
  not a writer who knows something about computers.
* They have to put up a good show of open competition for the
  job to satisfy some ethics rule, but are in fact trying to
  "wire" it for a specific person they've already identified.

Such are the joys of (un)employment...

Joe
"The pallid pimp of the dead-line/The enervate of the pen" -Robert Service