Writing Work

fade2black

Does anyone know of any particular areas of industry that may require someone with an ability to string a few words together. I have had many articles published in the press but I would like to extend my professional involvement in writing a little further. I have written a few promotional pieces for bar and restaurant owners (Used for two page advertising spreads) and would relish the opportunity to explore some other avenues.

Any ideas?

fade2black

Bump

RicardoSmith

Theres usually somebody looking for technical writers.

fade2black

The likes of Google and yahoo/overture....That's right but what exactly is technical writing (excuse the ignorance)

RicardoSmith

Technical subjects. Could be manuals, educational material, instructions, course material anything. Could be content for web sites, elearning, training material. I used to work in an elearning company which had about 50-60 tech writers. Most of them did more creative stuff on the side. The tech writing just paid the bills.

fade2black

I guess the only question is would I be qualified. Thanks for the feedback any Ricardo

Robbo

fade2black wrote:

I guess the only question is would I be qualified. Thanks for the feedback any Ricardo

For starting off as a technical writer, you wouldn't need to have much technical knowledge, just be reasonably proficient with a computer. It wouldn't harm to have some knowledge of stuff like HTML, XML, some formating language like LaTeX and know about some Adobe products.

RicardoSmith

fade2black wrote:

I guess the only question is would I be qualified. Thanks for the feedback any Ricardo

They generally give you a test piece to write to see if you can do it. For every bit of text you see, some one wrote it. Even its an ad, or a manual for a kettle.

fade2black

True enough. I think the biggest obstacle with this, as with most jobs, is the foot in the door. I have faith in my own abilities and I have no doubt that if I was to do this job I would be proficient at it. It's getting past the interview stage with a mixed bag of a CV that's the killer.

RicardoSmith

Well if it was easy everyone would be doing it

fade2black

True.

Eoin

Also have a look at website content editor jobs, I don't know how frequently they come up (I know my company was looking for quite some time before they found a suitable person).

However, writing for the web is quite different to writing print articles in that the viewers tend to have different reading patterns on the web. Also, you would probably need some basic HTML skills.

ixoy

Oh hallo. I've spent over three years as a technical writer with an elearning company - quite possibly the same one as RicardoSmith.

There was a wide variety of people in the job, although the writers tend to be predominantly younger. Their backgrounds were a mixture - some had degrees in arts, for example, whereas others - like myself - had done IT courses of some sort.

The writing involved can take a number of different forms - it might be a small snippet, such as an ad (in the case of Google who employ tech. writers) or it could be something hefty like a manual. I'd imagine that one of the prime requisities for getting in the door will be a piece of sample work whereby you either show them some work you created or, more likely, you write on a subject of their choosing.

Things I'd recommend if you're serious:

* good grammar - Most checkers will catch spelling mistakes, but grammar is a trickier beast. Some companies, such as Google, demand very very few mistakes in their work. You should show you're competent. Don't assume Microsoft Word, or whatever tool, will point it out

* style - If you're writing a piece, adhere to a particular style. For example, if you're talking about computers do you say "10 computers" or "ten computers"? If it's a software manual, how do you refer to onscreen components - use italics, do you use bold, a different font, etc.

* know your audience - It's important to understand who the piece is aimed at. If it's for anybody, then be sure to explain concepts clearly and don't assume they'll have prior knowledge of a product/service/item. Whereas if it's something for a tech-savvy group, don't demean them by explaining concepts they're already familiar with. If you're being really picky, you might want to localize your piece - e.g. if the target audience is American, not only use American spellings and date formattings, but watch out for trickier items such as the way they say "take a vacation" where we'd say "take a holiday".

Noone would expect you to be perfect straight through the door or even after a few years in the job (even I made mistakes...) but pimping yourself as best you can is no harm.

Eoin

* style - If you're writing a piece, adhere to a particular style. For example, if you're talking about computers do you say "10 computers" or "ten computers"? If it's a software manual, how do you refer to onscreen components - use italics, do you use bold, a different font, etc.

<boring bit>
Numbers under ten should be spelt, numbers over ten can be digits. However, if you have two numbers in the sentence, and one is over ten, then you use numbers for both. e.g.
I have ten computers.
I have 50 computers.
10 people have 50 computers.
</boring>

Figment

Any examples? Might be looking for a copy writer> More prose then technical writing though.

fade2black

I'm awaiting word back about a copywriting position that I applied for. I have a few links to some published articles if that would be helpful.