Top quality technical writer wanted

[Foggy]

No, not someone who knows a bit about computers and can string some words together to make barely readable sentences. No, sir. If your able to claim only basic Engilsh competency then it's unlikely I'm interested in your work. However, if you are so tuned to the nuances of the languages that mistake/s in this post are already bothering you, it's likely we'll get along well together. Yes, I should of mentioned this earlier but if your able to do research on IT-related technical subjects, and simplify complex technical concepts into easily digestible snippets/short articles, then I'm interested.

For the purposes of this job there is a slight preference for someone who can write in British English rather than that American mish-mash. Only kidding, only kidding! :) (No, not about the fact that there's a preference for English English.)

You can work from home but you need to be able to spend a minimum of 40 hours per week on my project. Do you believe you meat all the requirements? If yes, PM me with

1. What you believe are the four most blatant mistakes in this post (no repetitions allowed).
2. Links to at least three pieces of technology writing you've done.

You can disqualify yourself simply by posting, "Please send me details by PM." It would demonstrate a less than fantastic grasp of the English. ;)

[Foggy]

(Please don't ruin the thread by publicly posting the mistakes.)

[qwestcommunications]

This is a full time job. 40 hours is just about the number of hours worked in a FT job. Are you paying by the articles, salary, or what?

[Foggy]

40 hrs is a bit more than most full time jobs in the UK.

Money is not really the issue. Let's say that the right person will be perfectly happy with the arrangement.

[Arkserver]

I'm a qualified technical writer but i'm not interested in spending 40 hours/weekly because of my job as software engineer. I have written technical guides, reports, tutorials for junior & senior cs students(mostly coding related cpp) etc.

I want to follow this topic and see how it goes but i'm not interested in being a tech writer.

Good luck.

[jimmylee]

I'm qualified technical writer too...
the issue i see here is, what will we be writing about??
tech papers may take much more time than 40 hours week depending of the subject.

please be more specific.... there are much more technologies than computers.

[DBomb26]

Hello,
I have sent you a PM and am very interested in this job. Please get back to me as soon as possible. Thanks,
DBomb26

[Sunshine]

Hi,

When looking for a technical writer, you may want to look for someone who can:

1. design a document that looks good both on paper and on line
2. design a document that can be updated easily
3. write instructions that are easy to understand

Now, before I continue, I should point out that there are many experienced technical writers who vehemently disagree with me. They believe that hiring writers with experience in a particular industry is more important than hiring people who can write well. If you are an experienced technical writer yourself, then certainly make industry knowledge a primary qualification for your candidates. You will be able to use your own writing skills to improve those of the person you hire.

Sunshine

[jimmylee]

Hi,

When looking for a technical writer, you may want to look for someone who can:

1. design a document that looks good both on paper and on line
2. design a document that can be updated easily
3. write instructions that are easy to understand

Now, before I continue, I should point out that there are many experienced technical writers who vehemently disagree with me. They believe that hiring writers with experience in a particular industry is more important than hiring people who can write well. If you are an experienced technical writer yourself, then certainly make industry knowledge a primary qualification for your candidates. You will be able to use your own writing skills to improve those of the person you hire.

Sunshine

Sad but true.... but it goes little deeper than that.
industry knowledge is a wide term here... he just mention IT and no further details.
There are many IT guys out there who has no knowledge of PBX networking, or people who just work MS servers and know nothing about unix servers and so on...

40 hours weekly is full time job; even if you are sit on your bed with a laptop and hasn't take a shower in the hole day; so for someone that may be interested (in thsi case... I do) there's the need for more info and offcourse, the need to know the benefits.

[Foggy]

Sunshine, the project involves the writer getting familiar with areas of technology in which s/he'll have no previous experience.

jimmylee, thanks for all your comments but I don't seem to have received a PM from you. I'll answer all your PM questions if you cut the mustard.

DBomb26, thanks for your several PMs. You look promising. I have sent you an invite to talk to me outside of DP / to see the project.

Note: I haven't decided on a "winner" as yet and am still entertaining PMs.

[DBomb26]

Hello,
I have contacted you outside of DP, waiting for a reply.

[Foggy]

Thanks DBomb26. I've sent you an email. Sorry it didn't work out.

The position/s is still open.

[DBomb26]

Thanks for the opportunity and I wish you all the best. If you would be willing to reconsider I would be ecstatic.

[neo2525]

Interested in this job, PM being sent.

[Ganceann]

I would have considered this although I have not written any technology specific pieces and therefore lack the experience. I am aiming to improve my writing and hence starting to follow some of the threads here to pick up tips and examples of quality work.

As a learning aspect would be involved, I would still appreciate a chance to see the quality guideline expectations. I have various articles written on many topics that I have no experience in, and as each topic is tackled my writing skills are improving.

English english is my primary english, while my online article writing english is normally altered in microsoft word to make it american english. If you feel I should pm you with examples anyway, then let me know.

[TechWriter]

Hello,
I am new to DP but am very interested in this position. I will send you a PM with further details.

[Foggy]

The position/s is still not filled.

Admission: I'm being very fussy. The audience will be senior management of large enterprises and they are pretty unforgiving if your presentation is less than 100%. The odd mistake here, the funny syntax there, the verbosity elsewhere may work for most sites but not for this particular project.

Several of the applications received offered sample articles that were riddled with mistakes. For future PMs I am going to either invite you to talk via email or politely decline and not enter into reasons/explanations for why I've turned you down.

A bit more about the project:

It would involve research on terminology related to enterprise class software/hardware, and putting that together into concise, informative articles for people who value their time by the second; they want information, they want it brief, they want it accurate.

[DBomb26]

If you are still looking you may want to reconsider our minor misunderstanding...

[ablaye]

You can disqualify yourself simply by posting, "Please send me details by PM." It would demonstrate a less than fantastic grasp of the English. ;)

Wow, that's a little harsh. Best of luck in finding the person you need.

[Foggy]

ablaye, the ability to read and understand complex technical documents is part of the brief. If someone wants the job but can't be bothered to read the job advert then s/he is not right for this position. That's not harsh, that's common sense.

[straygoat]

Hello

I'm a technical author with a BA Hons in Technical Communication and 9 years experience in the software industry. I have worked on engineering manuals aimed at all levels of users, ranging from basic operators that may not be too familiar with PCs right up to administrators that have server configuration knowledge.

The manuals/on-line help/tutorials that I have written are unavailable to the public as they are tied in with legal contracts. They explain how to set up, operate and program specialist software for use in the utilities industries. They are used all over the world (primarily in Australia, Canada, and here in the UK but also in the Middle East).

I may be interested in this role, but like most of the other writers on here, I'm a little put off by the amount of hours required. 40 hours is more than I worked as a full-time technical author (and I still work part-time as a technical author, so that would be a problem too).

I have no problem getting to grips with new, unfamiliar technology or explaining it in simple terms.

If you're interested in what I have to offer, get in touch via craigwright@straygoat.com

[straygoat]

PS - As for the argument above. I feel the most important aspects of being a technical author are:

1. Understanding the needs of the reader.
2. Being able to write clearly without ambiguity
3. An ability to explain a process in full, including what needs to happen, who needs to put these actions into effect, what the results of these actions will be and most importantly the reasons why and these actions need to take place. In my experience, the main shortcoming of technical documents is that they fail to answer this important question - why?

[tke71709]

ablaye, the ability to read and understand complex technical documents is part of the brief. If someone wants the job but can't be bothered to read the job advert then s/he is not right for this position. That's not harsh, that's common sense.

Amen brother.

People don't seem to understand that if they don't/can't take the time to read a job advertisement properly when applying then how can we be expected to assume that their listening/comprehension skills are going to be any better when they actually need to listen to accomplish the goals of the project.

I've pm'ed you for further details on this project and with my responses to your questions.