Jose Said:

I'm writing a resume, I helped out in an office doing random stuff, whats the technical term for that?

We Answered:

gopher

Howard Said:

New Graduate - Technical Resume Q?

We Answered:

Maybe not the high school job but it wouldn't hurt to list the cashier job under, say "non-career related employment" or just on a list of jobs. Definitely list the volunteer experience that in fact would be a real plus. Make up a category for it ("service") if you have to.

Good luck.

Max Said:

Is It Possible To Be a Technical Writer If All You've Ever Done is Feature Writing?

We Answered:

Technical writing is a whole different field than features. Just like with features, where if you're reporting on fashion, you'd need to have some background or insight into the fashion world, so also, in technical writing you'd need to know a bit about the subject at hand.

You wouldn't for example, be able to jump in and write an article about the latest software architecture techniques simply because you'd have no idea where to start - you would do your research, of course, but without really knowing the topic, I suspect the resulting article would sound stilted and uninformed.

In technical writing, too, there are different types. There are those who write articles on databases, some write about the whole booming internet world, there's e-commerce, there are the huge software companies and infrastructure companies that underly the whole tech industry. There's writing of user manuals and how-to guides. There are reviews of new products. What would you concentrate on?

If you really do want to get into technical writing, talk to a couple of tech writers - find out how they got started. Were there courses they took? Did they have to specialize? The usual kinds of stuff - you're used to this. Read some trade publications (there are hundreds of them online - infoworld is a good starting point if you're looking to just read other people's contributions to get started).

Bottom line, you may certainly be able to tweak your resume to suit the technical writing field, but breaking in without an appropriate background may not be easy. No harm trying, though! I'm pretty sure the basic writing and writing-to-a-deadline skills are pretty transferable! :)

Sadly, it looks like no technical writers were reading your question (I'm a software architect myself, so I've worked _with_ tech writers, although I'm not one myself).

Good luck,
FF

Mae Said:

parent's technical resume?

We Answered:

I work in the technology industry and I receive resumes quite often. My advice is to cut the resume down to two pages max. I don't think there's a problem listing the eight positions, but limit the detail. If she's applying for senior DBA positions, then the person hiring will understand the qualifications she uses in the resume. The cover letter is what you use to position yourself for a particular position and to expand on your qualifications. It's my gut feeling that there is too much listed in the resume. Personally, I hate when the resumes I receive are too long and too cumbersome to read. I love bullet points that highlight the main experience and give me an idea of what that person's responsibilities and duties were for each job.

If you're just not sure, do a search online for other people's resumes with that title. People are always posting their resumes on their sites, and they are easy to find. You'll get an idea of what others are doing.