OK, I am trying to help but I have limited time. There is a superb art exhibition opening tonight and I must be there, so you have about 4 minutes?

Originally Posted by Yokel

and discussing the fact that her SCOT terminal used the same frequency band as "she used to detect Exocet radar" not quite getting it that the Exocet radar used the same frequencies as SCOT, therefore SCOT use blinded her ESM sensors.

You have lost me. Sorry, but that shit is so esoteric and specialist, you are never going to find a market.

Clearly, you have honed skills and have put your time in at the sharp end. But that was then, and his is now. Might I suggest you look at your basic skills set? Like you are blinding at mil/security software stuff (just a guess) so take a broad look at the security sector? Biometrics is wide open at the moment and fast algorithms seem to be sexy? Mostly in China and Korea.

Excocet is old news. The tech that made it happen is not.

Be lucky.

If this isn't a wind-up, it should be.

Surely your not serious.

If you want to start a business, find out what people need and then supply it. You have some specialist knowledge so research how it can be applied. Get in amongst the users, then look, listen and ask questions.

I'm a self employed analyst. I began after attending a conference where I thought, 'this would be so much better if'. So I asked around, and people said 'yes, we want some of that and yes...we'd pay for it.' I'd only gone along to meet an old friend!

Suggestion for you:

Have you considered producing technical documentation for engineering companies?

Here's a link to a typical job.

reed.co.uk - Job Details: Technical Writer - Seer Green, Buckinghamshire in Seer Green

Fits in with a lot of your skill set. If you're a reservist, I'd particularly look at doing documentation for companies supplying the military.

reed.co.uk - Job Details: Technical Author in Norwich

Wordsmith

TID

Never got to the sharp end, sadly.

The Exocet radar thing was just an example of the fools in the media not quite getting it, other examples include not understanding how electricity is generated and distributed, how mobile phone networks work, etc.

Pride

I'm thinking out loud.

Wordsmith

I've never had any technical writing training - however, one of my previous jobs included writing production documentation....

Originally Posted by Yokel

I've never had any technical writing training - however, one of my previous jobs included writing production documentation....

Neither did I when I started. I got out of metallurgy (which was dying on its feet) and into technical authoring by applying for any job that cropped up within a 25 mile radius. I ended up working for a major software company.

Its not so difficult if you're prepared to learn to use the software you're describing. Then you can work through a task step by step and describe those steps for users of the application. The skill set you've described is perfectly adequate. You just need to:

- Learn Word properly - templates, styles, etc., so you can produce nice looking Word documents
- Learn a graphics program like GIMP so you can take decent screen shots. All I normally do is take a screen grab, crop it to size, maybe scale it and save it as a jpg file for insertion into my documentation.
- Learn a program that'll produce flowcharts. I use Microsoft Visio, but the Draw package in Open Office (which is free) will get you started. You can also use Draw to annotate screen shots by importing the image into Draw. (After annotating then, just re-screen grab then back into GIMP).

You'll also need to learn a Authoring tool. RoboHelp is something you'll pick up easily - I taught myself to use it. FrameMaker is what the pro's use. It's difficult to learn, but does produce damn nice looking documents. (Stay clear of firms wanting FrameMaker experience when you first apply).

There are some free help authoring tools here:

Free Help-file authoring tools - Freebyte's Guide to

Have a play with HelpnDoc - having had a quick look at the video it looks like a simple version of RoboHelp. It'll give you a rough idea of what it's like to write on-line help files.

Typically what you do is produce a on-line HTML help file (they often have extension .chm), which the developers hook into the software for you. (This is what comes up when you click the Help button). You also convert the on-line help into a PDF file, which ships with the software and can be printed out.

Have a look at some existing help files - you'll soon get an idea of how its done. At the same time, invest a bit of your time into learning the software I've mentioned above. You should be able to produce a very simple help file for yourself. Write one or two small ones that mimic the ones that come with any software you might have installed on your PC and you can give yourself some basic experience as to what's required.

Then just 'big up' any document writing you've done in the past in your CV and start firing off applications.

Wordsmith

Well, this idea has faded away, for I fear it would not have been a good one. I am starting a new full time job tommorow, in an area that is not Electronic Engineering, but is (slightly at least) related.

One of my problems with respect to jobhunting has been sketchy work history - so how much of a difference would a period of employment for one employer make in the future, even if it isn't strictly speaking in the same field?

Similarly, will building/testing/etc things at home (at getting both the practical skills and taking pictures for evidence) help to make up for my limited practical experience?

Yokel, I think you might be reaching the end of the friendly and well meaning suggestions you've been given to date. Arrse is full of folk who (no pun really intended) will bend over backwards to help - but not to run your life. As an aside, how big a factor is money? Do you have dependents? If not, why not go overseas, even consider VSO? These are options that would break you out of a rut.

New job tommorow - however, I am trying to look at things from an employers point of view....how much difference would a solid period of employment for any future applications?

Start in a small way and work your way up to the big time in Singapore or Taiwan. You could start here: http://www.manchesterlads.com/

Originally Posted by Yokel

... I am trying to look at things from an employers point of view....how much difference would a solid period of employment for any future applications?

Put yourself in their position for the whole of the job-seeking process, and you will answer your own question.

The first thing any employer should do when trying to filll a post is to specify the job, and then specify the person who can fulfill that role. Once they have identified the primary and secondary task that the job involves, they should have a list of the minimum essential skills/attributes that the successful applicant will have, as well as a list of desirable skills/attributes. When they receive completed job application forms/CVs they (typically a fairly junior person) will sort out the applicants into two piles, those who meet the minimum requirements, and those who don't. Depending on the size of the pile of those who meet those minimum requirements, they may interview all the applicants in that pile, or sort it further, using the desirable skills/attributes to bring the number of potential interviewees down to a manageable number. If they have several people who meet all the essential and desirable requirements, then they will either interview all those candidates, or use some other means of whittling the numbers down. This must be done fairly, as to not do so could lay them open to claims of racism/ageism/sexism or any other form of unlawful discrimination. They would probably shy away from discounting candidates with a break in their employment history, as that could be deemed to be sexist.

From this, two things are fairly clear. Firstly, if the person sorting the applications does not see that you meet the minimum requirements, you are not going to get an interview. Secondly, the more of the desirables you can show that you have, the better the chance you have of making the final cut. What is not so clear is that, even if you have all the essential and desirable skills and attributes needed, you might still not get an interview. You have to make it past the sifting process, which, as I mentioned, is typically carried out by quite a junior person, in the HR department if the organisation is large enough to have one. They will be using a checklist (generally, this will be identical to the list of essentials and desirables given in the application pack) to sort the wheat from the chaff. Make it easy for them to tick every box by addressing every one of the essentials, in order, and as many of the desirables as you meet, again, in order. Do not assume that the person doing this task understands your job, make it easy for them to tick the boxes by being unabiguous about each point., for example, if the job asks for someone with a thorough knowledge of electronics, do not simply say "I have experience of working on PECs", a better comment would be "I have experience of diagnosing faults at component level and replacing individual components on Printed Electronic Circuitboards".

Once you've got to the interview, it's generally a level playing field. Outshine all the others in the interview, and you should get the job even if other candidates have all the desirables (on paper, at least) and you do not. If it comes down to a photo-finish, then the person with all the desirables may have the edge over the person without, but other factors come into play here, so it's not necessarily a given. This is the point at which an erratic employment history can jeopardise your chances, but you will have had a chance in the interview to explain your employment history and allay any fears that they may have that you would be a risk.