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> It's been my experience that you rarely see an ad that asks for more than 5+
> years experience, regardless of the complexity of the task. It gives the
> employer the possibility of picking up somebody smart on the cheap.
Employers ask for all sorts of unrealistic qualifications. One of the
better ones I saw recently was someone looking for a web designer with
5+ years of HTML experience. <head whipping around> Excuse me? Does
everyone else on this list understand why that's ridiculous?
We're finding that an employer's expectations about what one has learned
in 3+ years vs. 5+ years vary greatly, and that when they quote a figure
like that it's because they're really after someone who isn't just a
real beginner. Years and years of experience in technical writing don't
necessarily make you a better writer - but the fact that you've been
there does give you better war stories. <g>