A question for Tech Writers!

[pyat]

I have a question for all the tech writers on my friend's list, or all the folks in software/process documentation, and related fields.

The set-up is this. I've been a tech writer for about 7 years, but I have absolutely no specific training in the field. I have a generic journalism degree. I sort of drifted into tech writer from general corporate writing. I'm finding myself at a loss because I've had almost no exposure to the software tools used for authoring and documentation.

If I were to enroll in some night classes or continuing education, what software training should I be looking for?

Comments

[sixteenbynine.livejournal.com]

RoboHelp is a good one. Ditto FrameMaker. Both of these seem to be in major demand.

[dagoski.livejournal.com]

There's software for tech writing? I thought tech writing went the other way around.

Seriously, I think I've been doing things very primitively for the documentation I've written. I'll be interested in reading your experiences in finding training. I've been stuck in the whole one man software development team thing that you see a lot in higher education. I spec, develop, deploy and document everything myself and I know I do thing very simplistically.

[clawfoot.livejournal.com]

I second both RoboHelp and FrameMaker.

[leonard-arlotte.livejournal.com]

Not actually a technical writer, but have associated with a couple. I've heard Adobe InDesign tossed about as something used, but that, I imagine, depends on the company, and whether they've shelled out for an Adobe license.

[n-scale.livejournal.com]

I've been told that some knowledge of DITA and XML (for structured authoring) are becoming increasingly in demand. However, my sources may be unreliable...

Piet: Let me know if you're thinking of taking a course. I might join you. I've used FrameMaker fairly extensively, and fiddled around with RoboHelp in my spare time, but my tools knowledge could certainly use some upgrading.