Qualifications needed for Editing?

[Daniel Gonzalez]

Karsten-

Thanks for the quick reply. If those are the only requirements, I think
I may be able to offer some help editing if needed. I'm a 5ESS
Maintenance Engineer and pretty much deal with technical documentation
on a daily basis a la Lucent Technologies. I also write some tutorials,
HOWTOs etc. for the switch technicians maintaining the switching
equipment. I don't know what info you will need from me, but I can send
you samples of my past work if needed.

Thanks again,

Dan Gonzalez
dgonzo at optonline.net
spam_me_silly at optonline.net




On Wed, 2003-12-24 at 05:49, Karsten Wade wrote:
> On Tue, 2003-12-23 at 18:27, Daniel Gonzalez wrote:
> > I was just curious as to what sort of qualifications are needed to
> > become an editor? I'm not a programmer by any means (basic scripting
> > etc) but would be very interested in editing/proof-reading etc. I
> > apologize in advance if this is not the correct forum in which to ask my
> > question.
> 
> I don't think this has been formally defined, although I'm sure someone
> can dig up a job description for editor.  But in the spirit of "it seems
> to me", here are some ideas.
> 
> Technical Editors
> 
> People who focus primarily on catching technical errors.  Activities
> include:
> 
> * Performing all actions as directed in the tutorial
> * Verifying accuracy of output
> * Tracking down technical answers to questions writers have, or errors
> they have made and don't know how to correct
> 
> Language Editors (Wordsmiths)
> 
> People who focus primarily on catching grammatical, spelling and
> idiomatic errors in their language.  Activities include:
> 
> * Reading for grammar, spelling and correct idiom usage
> * Correcting transliteration errors
> * Reading for clarity (language, flow of prose or narrative)
> 
> General Editors
> 
> These are tasks which could be performed by anyone:
> 
> * XML accuracy and tag usage
> * Code formatting (adherence to standards)
> * Refactoring for accuracy, clarity and tag usage
> 
> ... just some thoughts ...
> 
> - Karsten