Re: To aspiring Techncial Writers (a bit long)

[John Posada <john -at- TDANDW -dot- COM>]

Excellent points. I'm reading the post and at each one, thought, "yep...I
remember just yesterday when that was true."

> Stubborn: You're going to run into a few obstacles on the way to completing
> your project, so you've got to be persistent. Make sure you've got the right
>
> Wise: While you're defending your position and staving off the forces of
> evil around you, be sure to listen to what they're saying. Sure, maybe 75%
>
> Compromising: The result of Stubborn and Wise, you're going to have to give
> a little to get ahead. Stick to your guns on the important stuff, but learn
>
> So where does all this come from? I just got back from a review session
> with...

In my case, I'll tell you where it came from. Prior to tech writing, I was in
sales...not marcom, not writing ABOUT sales, but actually doing it...for 15
years! Straight commission, mostly Downtown NYC Financial District. Cold
calling, the whole bit. Through this experience, I learned a number of skills:
- Stubborn in that regardless, if I didn't make the sales, I didn't eat.
- Wise in that I needed to convey to my customers that the service I was selling
was more in their best interest than my competition's service was.
- Compromising in that I learned that sometimes I had to walk away from a sale
or customer when it wasn't in anyone's best interest to keep hitting my head
against the wall.

I learned way more at that profession that I use in this one (time management,
setting priorities, dealing with a WIDE range of types of people, writing with a
Feature/Benefit slant, writing clear, clean content, etc.) than I did in
college.

--
John Posada, Technical Writer
Bellcore, where Customer Satisfaction is our number one priority
mailto:john -at- tdandw -dot- com   mailto:jposada -at- notes -dot- cc -dot- bellcore -dot- com
phone(w) 732-699-3077    phone(h) 732-2910-7811
alpha-pager: 800-864-8444 pin 1857522  http://www.tdandw.com
email pager: mailto:1857522 -at- pagemart -dot- net
My opinions are mine, and neither you nor my company can take credit for
them.
  "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish,
and he will sit in a boat and smoke cigars all day."
  "The only perfect document I ever created is still on my hard drive."

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=