[FM Discuss] Floss Manuals - any links or referrals to paid work?

[Tomi Toivio]

Yeah,

Professional technical writers, should we discuss the style guide of *NDA*
or the culture of *NDA*.

Once I took a bus every morning to work at location *NDA*, working on
project *NDA* for customer *NDA*.

It really seems like the commercial technical writing world is very
totalitarian in the sense of "information wants to be free". Of course the
open source movement proves that this is a horrible waste.

On the other hand it really shows that technical writers *DO* have lots and
lots of important information and should be paid rather well for the same
reasons as engineers. ;)

Isn't it funny to think that some of the information inside your brains is
privately owned by somebody else? How can it be? Seems very Orwellian.

Regards
Tomi

2010/3/13 Janet Swisher <jmswisher at gmail.com>

> Hi Jay,
>
> As you probably know, I've been banging the drum about getting
> professional tech writers involved in open source for several years
> now. For new graduates and career-changers, it can be a way out of the
> "can't get a job without experience" conundrum. For experienced
> writers, it can be a way to fill out your portfolio if everything you
> do for hire requires a non-disclosure agreement to even show. And for
> folks in the same boat as you, it can be a way to keep your chops
> sharp between tech writing gigs, and have something to fill in a gap
> on your resume.
>
> If I were a hiring manager, I would be tremendously impressed by any
> tech writer involved in open source, because doing that requires a
> great deal of initiative and self-direction. However, I'm not a hiring
> manager, and most that I've come across are not well informed about
> open source. So, you would probably need to make that case yourself,
> for example in a cover letter.
>
> I personally have had one employer approach me about a position as a
> result of work I did in connection with FLOSS Manuals, but I certainly
> can't promise that to anyone.
>
> --Janet
>
> On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 3:55 PM, Jay Maechtlen <techwriter at covad.net>
> wrote:
> > As an underemployed Technical Writer, I'm wondering what connections
> there
> > might be between paid work and efforts like FlossManuals?
> > Obviously, anything we do can be use in our portfolio.
> > Also, for those open-source projects that are used commercially, it would
> be
> > a way to show expertise.
> > Thoughts?
> >
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>



-- 
Best Regards
Tomi Toivio
Open Source Coordinator
http://fi.flossmanuals.net/
tomi at flossmanuals.net
+358445488856
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