Lazyweb: Tech writing

[adric]

If one were looking to move into tech writing, having done some in the course of trying to survive various other positions in computer work ...

What sort of portfolio would one like to have? Keep in mind that any documentation written for previous / current organizations is likely unavailable. Is there a standard for this ? Obviously work on public wikis is fair game...

Any other tips or comments on this topic will be appreciated.

On a related note, how does the line "those who can code, those who can't teach and write documentation" work? It's not quite there yet.

Comments

[cypherpunk.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Do you have any product user manuals you've done, like stuff that would be openly available on a company's web site? Other than that, maybe don't give a full blurb from something you've written, but an edited excerpt devoid of anything proprietary. Or, anything in public Wikis/OpenSource would also be up for grabs.

I've done code samples where I use company code and remove any reference to things that might be perceived as a violation of my employment agreement there.

They'll usually want to see your style more than content, so keep it focused on that. Occasionally, they'll give you a small test where they provide a topic with specs and you're supposed to write about it.

-C-

[mavia.livejournal.com]

Perhaps "Those who can, code; those who can't, teach; those who can't teach, document." Switch teach/document depending on who you want to slag more.

Hmm

[adric]

Well you have the vibe, except I'm trying to come up with something positive.