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Before you finish your thesis, get yourself QUICKLY to your campus
bookstore and buy FrameMaker at the educational discount price!!! It
will be about 1/3 of the regular price (or less). As for RoboHelp, I
don't know if they offer educational discounts, but you can call their
800 number to ask. RoboHelp is pretty easy to pick up (especially if you
already know how to use Word), but FrameMaker is a real bear!! Both
products come with a tutorial.
The thing is, most companies, if they require knowledge of a specific
tool, are also going to require experience as a tw...at least that's
been my observation. It's good to have these tools, but be careful to
avoid obsessing over tool experience. That's the LEAST important concern
for new tech writers. One of the most important things is to develop
experience (real-world projects) that you can show potential employers.
Some schools are better at helping students develop portfolios than
others. Volunteer your services to some shareware authors if you want to
do software tw, volunteer to some local agencies and organizations if
you want to do policies and procedures, etc.
Good luck to you,
Jane
Jane Bergen, Technical Writer
AnswerSoft, Inc.
Richardson, TX (972)997-8355
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Gilliam [mailto:techwriter -at- ARISTOTLE -dot- NET]
> Sent: Friday, June 26, 1998 10:05 PM
> To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject: FrameMaker/RoboHelp/WinHelp Tutorials
>
>
> I'm finishing up my thesis in my MA technical writing program and have
> found that several jobs I would like to apply for require software
> applications like FrameMaker & RoboHelp, etc. Because these programs
> are expensive, I was wondering if there are any tutorials out
> there that
>
> I can download and still experiment with and learn. That way I can
> provide some type of evidence on my resume that I do have experience
> (even tutorial experience) with these packages.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jim Gilliam
> techwriter -at- aristotle -dot- net
> techwrtr -at- arkansas -dot- net
> Little Rock, Arkansas
>
> &^&^&^&^&^~~~
> Send commands to listserv -at- listserv -dot- okstate -dot- edu (e.g., SIGNOFF
> TECHWR-L)
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>
