Re: Programming experience for Tech Writers (was: HR versus Tech writing)

[Mark Baker <mbaker -at- OMNIMARK -dot- COM>]

Sean McFerren wrote

>Mark Baker wrote:
>
>< snip >
>I require the writers I hire to have a mastery of
>at least one programming language. Why? Because our main product is a
>programming language. If you don't program you can't document a programming
>language.
>< snip >
>
>Obviously, the *best* language to have experience with is the one your
potential
>employer/client is using.  However, if a tech writer (with no prior
programming)
>wanted to take a programming course to increase his/her marketability in
general,
>what would you recommend?

I disagree. The best language for a writer in my particular example is the
one that the company's *customers* use, rather than the one that the company
itself uses. Our developers work in C and Java. Our target user is more
likely to be a Perl or Visual Basic programmer.

As to the question of what language to learn to increase your marketability,
there are many possible answers:

C, C++, and Java will probably impress developers and development managers
most (providing you actually get good at them).

Perl might help you get a job working on web stuff.

Visual Basic and OmniMark will be the most useful to you in actually doing
your job as a technical communicator. (VB for GUIs and database access,
OmniMark for text manipulation and SGML/XML markup processing.)

---
Mark Baker
Manager, Corporate Communications
OmniMark Technologies Corporation
1400 Blair Place
Gloucester, Ontario
Canada, K1J 9B8
Phone: 613-745-4242
Fax: 613-745-5560
Email mbaker -at- omnimark -dot- com
Web: http://www.omnimark.com

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