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Subject:Re: job negotiation for beginner From:Sella Rush <SellaR -at- APPTECHSYS -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 21 Oct 1996 16:18:07 -0700
Su-Laine--
It sounds great, but you will be lonely. I did somewhat the same thing.
I had more writing experience but very little contact with other tech
writers--except when I took a certificate course. Now I'm working on my
own but thinking I might have benefited from a group environment for a
while. I love my new job, but am wondering if the quality of my docs is
suffering by (lack of) comparison. I also wonder how productive I
am--comparably.
In fact, I'd been considering seeing if other lone TWs feel the same way
and are interested in establishing some sort of critique group. I bet
there's other lone TWs in B.C. you could contact--have you looked into
STC up there? (I did this with fiction writing, and our little group
has been going strong for two and a half years.)
Re salary, I'd try negotiating a trial period or incremental salary or
contract with definite time periods, it worked for me. Particularly
since they expect to be growing.