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1、A Typical Day as a Technical Writer in Shanghai,Check for new emails. First thing in the morning, I check my mailbox for new messages. Most of the new messages are from our corporate office in Austin. We are 14 hours ahead of them, so while we went home the previous day, their day just started. They
2、 were busy resolving and addressing some of the issues we had in Shanghai.,Fix and validate CARs. 修正和验证行动需求过程 CARs, or corrective action requests, are software and documentation bugs that people have found and reported. Some are CARs that I need to fix while others are CARs I need to validate. I go
3、through the CARs to see what the bugs/issues are and what I need to do.,Attend documentation meeting. 参加文件编撰会议 Meet with other technical writers to get status reports on everyones projects as well as receive any announcements and updates on department-wide and company-wide issues.,Attend project mee
4、tings. Meet with the development team to find out project updates, changes and new features, to-do tasks, and issues to resolve.,Meet with developers and content experts. If there are any changes or new features added to the product, I meet individually with the content experts to learn more about t
5、he changes.,Research online. 网上研究 I spend a good deal of time researching because the products I write about are highly technical and require basic engineering concepts and understanding, which I lack.,Install, uninstall, and reinstall software application. 安装，卸载，然后重新安装应用软件 Being a part of the softw
6、are development process means we constantly have to reinstall the software to see the new changes.,Troubleshooting 故障排除. Theres always something that doesnt work the way its suppose to. I spend a good amount of time figuring out what the problem is and reporting the issue/bug to the project owner.,P
7、rovide feedback about software usability 提供关于软件可用性反馈 . Technical writers are the best “Beta users”and “guinea pigs” to experiment with new applications and products. I provide valuable feedback to developers on their products usability.,Meet with lead writer/group manager. Once a week, I meet with m
8、y lead writer and manager to go over the status of my project, report any issues and difficulties I have, and receive suggestions/feedback about my work.,Hold productivity forum meeting举办论坛会议. Everyone shares tips, tricks, and anything useful to improve productivity at work.,Eat lunch. Most of the t
9、ime, I eat with my colleagues at the communal canteen for the whole office park. Sometimes we go out to nearby restaurants for group lunch. Occasionally, we order takeouts and deliveries.,Check project schedule检查项目进度. I work on multiple projects with several deliverables (help files) simultaneously.
10、 Its important to stay on top of the schedule for all the tasks and reviews that need to be accomplished in order to meet project deadline(s).,Write new feature documentation (NFD). 编写新功能文档 New features are documented separately and go through several rounds of review before being integrated into ex
11、isting help.,Go through tutorials to confirm accuracy. 查阅相关手册确保准确性 Its important to go through the tutorials several times to make sure the content is logical, accurate, and that no steps or information are left out.,Send NFDs or documentation for review. Every deliverable goes through several round
12、s of review before the final product is released.,Report any bugs found in software or documentation. 报告在软件和手册中发现的错误 There are always bugs and errors found in software and documentation, whether my own projects or other peoples projects.,Enter edits输入修改. After receiving feedback from reviewers, I ne
13、ed to enter all the edits. I might need to meet with content experts again to clarify a few details or missing information.,Peer review other technical writers documentation. 同行文档审阅 Every technical writer at NI has a peer reviewer and a lead reviewer. We help peer review each others documentation. S
14、ometimes I need to learn other peoples products before I can review their documentation.,Attend various training. There are several trainings throughout the week ranging from new products/features to leadership training to technical training. Sometimes I help out with English training for engineers.
15、,Visit the snack table. After working intensely, I take a break and grab something to eat from the snack table.,Compile online help 编写联机帮助. Most of my deliverables are sourced in HTML or XML. I need to use various tools to compile all the project files including art and graphics into one help file.,
16、Use, modify, or give feedback about internal tools 使用、修改或者提供有关内部工具的反馈 LabVIEW, NIs flagship product, is a graphical programming language. Weve created several in-house tools using LabVIEW to accomplish and simplify many documentation-related tasks. Sometimes these tools break or dont work well. I pr
17、ovide feedback and suggestions for improving the tools as well as create/modify the tools for my own use.,Add new topics to our internal documentation给内部文件添加新主题. All the technical writers at NI contribute to our internal help system, which explains various procedures and instructions related to our
18、daily tasks. Basically, its our manual for writing manuals! Yes, were pretty geeky like that.,Review miscellaneous documents检查各种文件. Occasionally, I receive requests to review various documents, presentations, and articles written by developers and other departments.,Write documentation plan. When I
19、start a new project, the first thing I need to do is to write a documentation plan. This includes all the necessary information we need to know (product, industry, audience, users, type of documentation, risks, time frame, deadlines, etc) before we start writing the documentation.,Plan parties and e
20、vents聚会和活动计划. Im the social dictator for the technical communications group, so I plan all the social activities such as group lunch, outings, quarterly parties, and fun team-building activities.,Attend deck parties.参加公司聚会 Every few weeks, the entire R&D team goes up to the roof of our building for
21、some beer, snacks, and socializing.,Technical writing, despite peoples misconception, is not just about writing manuals and help files. Writing is part of the job but not all of it. As you can see from my typical day at work, Im involved with many aspects of the software or product development. Tech
22、nical writers provide a lot of valuable feedback to a products usability. We also perform a lot of tasks that require more than just good writing/communication skills. Interest in technology, ability to multi-task, ability to learn a lot of material in a short amount of time, critical and problem-solving skills, excellent research skills, attention to details, good communication skills . . . these are all skill sets that are required of a technical writer.,Thank you!,