Work Hard, Lose Your Job

摘要

I'm A database programmer by trade, but I can write too. Several years ago, a large hardware vendor offered me a handsome salary to oversee documentation for the company's embedded utilities. I decided if they had the money, I had the time. There were changes to the docs almost every week, which was fine; but they needed to be delivered in three different formats (print, browser-based online help screens, and 80-colure terminal text), which wasn't. The previous writer nad been dropping text changes into multiple files, and falling behind hour by hour. The terminal files had her counting characters manually and inserting line breaks before she ducked out the door.