Tag: IT

bookmark_borderSkill Set

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Without meaning to I seem to have taken some inspiration from this post, whilst I’m not directly offering a counterpoint, it’s worth a read.

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Every trade or profession has a skill set, a unique set of talents that make one role different from another. For most people in the IT industry we all have some amount of ‘business-led’ skills such as time management, a little project management perhaps, and so on.

As a profession, Technical Communications covers a wide range of skills and some people, depending on their role or the company the work for, can end up being a jack of all trades (master of some?). However, there are some skills that are easily identifiable as being part of our core job and apply to most, if not all, technical writing positions, for example:

  • Writing
  • Editing
  • Indexing

After that we can look to other areas in which some technical writers dabble, either because of company need or personal curiosity, such as:

  • Graphic design
  • QA/Testing
  • Coding
  • Usability
  • Information Architecture

All of these skills are professions in their own right, and whilst I would never suggest that a technical writer could replace like for like, we do tend to inherit a few additional skills as we bumble along. The specifics and amount vary from person to person, situation to situation, and whilst that means that no two jobs are the same it does present a small quandary.

How do we come up with a generic job description for our profession?

Even if I was to limit the scope of that question to my own personal experience, having worked in 5 different software companies with each having a slightly different view of what my role should be (and with each role being developed in a different way once I had joined the company), it’s still hard to get a single, generic, job description.

This all sparks another question, why do we need a generic job description for our profession?

Well put it this way. A software developer will have a set of skills, but I’d warrant that their list of core skills far outweights the list of their secondary skills. There is an understanding that a software developer will know certain things, and that list is far longer than that of a technical writer yet we have the potential to bring so much more than ‘just writing’ to a company.

To help publicise our capabilities, and the benefits of having a dedicated technical writing team within your company, a generic job description is an ideal starting point to make sure the hiring managers of the world know what we CAN do, if given half a chance.

I know that a generic job description will never match any one role, but I imagine it like a pie chart, with each slice (skill) growing or shrinking to meet the job specification. But before we can bake that pie we need a full list of ingredients.

So, what have I missed? What other roles and skills do you bring with you to a company? Let us build our generic technical writer, we can call her Tina… (or maybe not)

bookmark_borderRanty moan

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Why is the weather so crap at the moment? It’s almost June and I was freezing standing at the station this morning.

Why are people complaining about Big Brother? Surely they are used to it by now? Shouldn’t they just be ignoring it?

Why do people make such a fuss about whether Scots are supporting England or not? And what’s with this “British Day” nonsense? Surely, and feel free to correct me on this, you only consider yourself British AFTER you’ve considered your ‘home nationality’. I’m a Scot first and foremost. Same with the English, Welsh, and Irish. No?

Of course the commentators love us to be British when it’s a Scots person winning something… ahhh yes, Liz McColgan, pride of Britain. Linford Christie, English lion. What?! This is said only somewhat in jest, one day I’d love to have the time to analyse this in detail to see whether my gut feel is correct or not, for the meantime I’m happy to proffer it forth for discussion/ridicule (it’s all about the comments people!).

Why is there such hype about the Da Vinci Code? Last night there were at least three different “exploring the…” shows on TV. Enough already. Bloody religious nutters the lot of them. Yes, I’m talking about you Catholic lot. Enough already. IT’S FICTION. IT’S NOT REAL.

Note to self: Must finish that post about how we are now reaping the uneducated seeds that we have sown (note the religious undertones of that sentence.. smart huh..).

AND… umm…

No. I think that’s me. Bit of a pathetic moan really.. must try harder!

What about you? What would you like to moan about? Go on, get it off yer chest.

bookmark_borderWeekender

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Heart racing, palms sweaty, discarded beer bottles on the floor. Perched on the edge of my seat, subjecting the television to random shouts of “OFFSIDE!” and “KICK IT!!!”, and minutes earlier I’d just said:

“You know what’ll happen, they’ll score a try, and then get a penalty in the dying seconds…”

Yes, some good old fashioned Scottish naysaying, and I was almost right… Thankfully they missed the conversion, Scotland charged up the other end and… bloody hell, we won!! What a game! Well played indeed, some of the passing was inspired, the hits were big and the only downside is that it wasn’t the English on the receiving end!

Anyway, enough exclamation marks.

A quiet weekend, hardly ventured out of the house, and despite watching three games of rugby and two games of football I still managed to get quite a bit done. Considering the next month or two will be my busiest by some stretch it felt good to go to bed last night safe in the knowledge that I was well on track. Hell I even managed to get the car washed (it’s only a little car though … doesn’t take long).

So why was it that, at almost spot on 5am, I was wide awake and couldn’t get back to sleep? Not only that but Louise was the same. We both ignored each other as we tossed and turned, with both of us failing to find that nice comfy spot which always makes us go to sleep. I tried counting sheep, I tried relaxing my body, concentrating on one area at a time, breathing out slowly… only for an itch to demand a scratch at the last moment. This happened three times before I gave up. Sometime between 6am and 7am I fell asleep again… crap… I’m yawning just typing this.

Ohhh, did someone say coffee?

bookmark_borderFriends will be Friends

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One simple fact is indisputable; I don’t see my friends often enough.

Granted one spends a large amount of the year in other countries and one lives in London, but the other two live and work nearby and there is no excuse other than the usual “time flies” nonsense… which isn’t as much an excuse as a weird rip in the time versus priority continuum.

What a great word continuum is… continuUM conTINuum contiuummmmmmm…

Every time we meet we promise to meet sooner next time, to not leave it so long, to call on the off chance of each other being free rather than worrying about pre-arranging a dinner, or if one person can make it whilst the other one can’t. Yet we never really do and there’s no excuse for it. We are all grown up (mostly) and responsible adults (barely), we can handle buying houses, holding down jobs (two of my mates run their own companies fer chrissakes) yet we can’t seem to get the whole ‘friend time’ nailed down properly.

Now I’m not saying that this is a problem, it’s more a slight annoyance, and I’m certainly not laying blame, – if I was I’d have to start with myself – but it is something that bothers me. Especially at this time of year as resolutions are made, the slate is clean, a new dawn breaks over the horizon, a calm pond awaits the pebble, a blank canvas dreams of colour, a [Ed: GET ON WITH IT!]…

So I spotted my two Glasgow based friends on MSN, got in touch and made arrangements to contact them when we get back from Spain. Life is just too short to let these times pass, to neglect the people I care about, and I’m determined that this year will be different. It’s almost like that mature feeling that occasionally sweeps over me when I’m driving… it may sound odd but it’s almost the sudden realisation that I’m an adult, I am married, I can afford… well I can drive a car… it’s like seeing myself through a stranger’s eyes. Just another middle-aged married couple going to the garden centre, or to visit their family. Odd that. Anyone else get that? Just me? Right.. as you were.

Friends are important, they help remind you of who you are, where you came from, and keep you grounded. They can share old jokes and reminiscing that no-one else can, they know you better than you ever realise and when you need them they are there for you without question or hesitation.

You can’t choose your family, and sometimes you can’t choose your friends. Not really at any rate for the true friends are the ones that just develop, flourish and stick. Those are the ones to value.

And I do.

bookmark_borderRadio Ga-Ga

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I don’t listen to the radio much. It’s the inane rambling you see, drives me potty.

I don’t listen to podcasts much. It’s the inane rambling you see…

For the most part that is, I have listened to a few podcasts that I’ve enjoyed, mainly topical ‘casts (why do we have the “pod” bit? it’s a derivative of broadcast surely but why do we need to differentiate? both are consumed in the same way, so let’s get past the next year or so of faffing about and call everything that is audio/visually consumed “casts”. No? Agree or not we should definitely get out of parenthesis…).

I guess I really need to spend a little more time looking for what I want, what I’ll enjoy, but so far coloured me hugely unimpressed with the whole podcasting thing. It’s just not original is it? Ohh sure throwing in some music by an unheard-of band is interesting to a point but it’s still not hugely original?

I’ll pause now to assure certain readers of this site, readers which have put together their own casts, and to which I’ve listened, that this is not a dig at them. Sure it’s the “in thing” at the moment, but this fad will pass; not completely but it will become just another thing that some people listen to/produce, in fact I don’t think calling it a “fad” is fair. It IS fun and nice to hear the voices of the people you normally associate with the written word but beyond that it’s not really enough to hold my attention.

But then I don’t listen to the radio for the same reason, and it’s the same reason that some conversations drive me potty, that lag, that long meandering detour when I’ve already figured out the destination and can see where we are headed and WHY ARE WE GOING THIS WAY!? IT’S RIGHT THERE! yet I’m powerless to do anything except wait for the journey to end. Or end it myself by turning the radio off.

It HAS been good to hear what other people have to offer, and what I’ve heard has been good, but just not good enough for the long term. I must have listened to at least 50 different podcasts and none of them have had that little bit extra that would keep me “tuned in”.

Maybe I’m just looking in the wrong places, and whilst I’m entirely sure a lot of my issues with ‘casting are generated from my own little quirks and foibles, maybe I’m missing the point, or maybe it’s just a fun diversion for a while.

I do have other thoughts around the whole “podcasting” thing – challenging traditional media, use of media on the internet maturing, etc etc – but ultimately, and I realise that the length of this post is somewhat at odds with this next statement, I can sum up my initial thoughts on “podcasting” (sic) with the following, well considered and beautifully simple, um, noise.

Meh.

bookmark_borderHeadshot

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We have some empty picture frames lying around, and we’d like to put some photos of our friends and family in them. This poses a slight problem though as we don’t have any photos that we like.

I did a little research last night, and as we are getting together with our friends at the weekend it’s a great opportunity to practise taking “informal or candid portraits” or, as I prefer to call them, “taking 300 pictures of people when they aren’t looking”. The trouble is the minute you take your camera out everyone spots it and they all become very self-aware, rendering candidity a nonsense.

About 15 years ago (oh my god, is it really…), when we (my family) were on holiday in France we met up with some friends of my parents. Ohh and before I go any further I’ll state that this post is up for correction if my Mum or Dad drop by, slightly hazy on some of the facts.

Anyway, my parents had known Pascal and Maryline (sp?) for many years, and I’d met them some years before (including a hairy car journey with Pascal in a VW camper van doing 90mph down a B road… or at least that’s what it seemed like. What IS IT with continental drivers?). Pascal is a teacher and photographer who has had some work published – postcards and the like. One hot summer evening in Brittany, sitting in the campsite as the sun began to set, we scoffed down barbequed food and sat talking and laughing – I was at the age where talking with the “adults” was turning out to be fun, who knew!.

Pascal had his camera bag with him, and as we were all talking, he took out his very large and foreboding looking SLR and started changing settings, clicking quick test photos of nothing in particular (I presumed). Next thing I know I hear a click and he looks up from behind his camera, grinning at me. He’d completely fooled me into thinking that he was just checking his equipment* and I hadn’t even noticed him point the camera in my direction.

If I can find the photo he took I’ll scan it in, suffice to say it’s very natural looking (and proves that I did once have hair… when I was 15…). Looking back to that day, it’s that kind of anonymity that I’ll need if I want to take the kind of photos we’d like. The trouble is, and this is particularly so with my friends, I’m not really the type to sit in the background and try to be invisible. I’ve still to figure out a way around that particular, and very personal, issue but I have a few thoughts – I could pretend I’m in the huff maybe??

I’ll probably resort to the old “place the camera on the table, tilt it slightly and start clicking” method. Much more luck than judgement that one but might be worth a shot (pun intended). That’ll be fine in the pub, but I’ll need another tactic for when we go to the cinema… ohh slight flaw there, dammit. Mind you there will be dinner after that, and possibly more drinks in a rather grand old building for which it’d be good to take my camera anyway.

So, any tips or suggestions? Should I wait until after dinner when everyone is happy and relaxed (tipsy)? Or should I pretend to take some photos all day but only take a few now and then, thereby diminishing the “ohh crap, he’s got the camera out again” factor.

My mate Keith is a pretty good photographer too, well when I say good I mean he knows what all those technical terms mean and understands the basics better than I do, so I’ll be asking him on Friday night for some pointers. I also know several very good photographers read this nonsense so now is your time to shine, let us mere point-and-click minions feel the warmth of your knowledge. G’wan, gie’s a tip or two.

Candid photos – how best to achieve them. Suggestions in the comment box please.

* One problem when discussing cameras is the innuendo-laden prose I find myself reverting to, it’s purely coincidental. Honest.