Darwin Information Typing Architecture - DITA

Jason

Ideas bounce around in my head
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 26, 2016
Messages
6,011
Reaction score
1,036
Location
Nashville, TN
A friend of mine sent me a job announcement where he works and was quite exuberant at the idea of me applying for the position and coming to work there. The salary is about right, and would not require any relocation. Plus, as he says "...you could totally do this job in your sleep"! Only hesitancy I have is an acronym I'd not heard before - DITA.

Per Wikipedia (Google), it doesn't seem that crazy or outlandish, as it's built into the open source schema of XML markdown structuring with 5 categories of specialization. While I just now learned of this, I've been doing technical writing as an additional duty for decades now (*sigh* is it really decades? - yes, why yes it has... ).

So, to my question(s):

Is anyone else in technical writing and uses the DITA references for categorization and reuse? How long did it take you to become proficient with it?

Would it be wrong to include a bullet now in my resume saying that I am familiar with DITA, or would I need to complete a certain amount of work in this capacity to do that? I know people have beefed up resumes for years, even lying outright, but that's just not my style...and I'd hate to misrepresent myself. Thoughts here would be welcome.
 

Lakey

professional dilettante
Staff member
Super Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 20, 2017
Messages
2,714
Reaction score
3,965
Location
New England
Do not say you are familiar with DITA if the extent of your experience in it is reading a Wikipedia article. If you have experience using (USING, not just reading about) other XML schemas for technical communications, you can say that, and add (perhaps in a cover letter) that from what you know of DITA you wouldn't have trouble learning and adapting to it. But do not say you're familiar with it. If the hiring manager knows anything about it, one or two interview questions will quickly expose your puffery. If the hiring manager doesn't know anything, you might get further, but there are other dangers in getting a job where everyone expects you to know something you don't actually know.

My company uses a homegrown variant of the Docbook XML schema. We researched the possibility of converting to DITA a couple of years ago, and as part of that committee I learned quite a lot about it. In broad strokes it's a lot like any other XML schema and not difficult to learn the basics. A problem with DITA is that a lot of people take its basic information types as the whole story, producing content that is weirdly rigid in structure and chunked up too small to be useful. So to use it well, in my opinion, you do need to get comfortable using map files to combine the basic information types as building blocks for more meaningful, designed chunks of content. In other words, people treat the DITA infrastructure as though it gives you good information design for free; it doesn't. It does have some pretty powerful tools for single sourcing and content reuse, if that's important to your organization, and of course those require some investment in learning as well. It's almost useless without a CCMS (Component Content Management System), so if you've never worked with one of those before, that could also slow down your adaptation to it.

Hopefully someone who has worked with DITA will chime in with more insight for you.

:e2coffee:
 
Last edited:

Jason

Ideas bounce around in my head
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 26, 2016
Messages
6,011
Reaction score
1,036
Location
Nashville, TN
Well said, and that's probably how I would word any reference to exposure to DITA in a cover letter - I have extensive experience with XML in technical documentation but not with DITA per se. From what I understand of DITA though, based on a tad bit of online research, it seems fairly sensible and think that I could be brought up to speed easily enough. Then, hopefully we could segue the conversation into asking a few probing questions of my own:

What kind of CCMS are you using in conjunction with DITA?

Which category of DITA nomenclature would you say gets used most in your organization: Task, Concept, Reference, Glossary Entry, or Troubleshooting?

How much of your currently written content is reused or referenced in other documentation sets?

How much of the content that you maintain is in compliance with the DITA standard? Would a technical writer here be creating new content, editing and revising existing content?
 

amergina

Pittsburgh Strong
Staff member
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 20, 2007
Messages
15,599
Reaction score
2,471
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
Website
www.annazabo.com
I didn't really encounter DITA until I started my current job, but I was familiar enough with XML and FrameMaker's SGML that learning DITA and how my org uses DITA in documentation happened fairly quickly. Coming from a FrameMaker background helped me a lot, because I was already used to structured documents.

We do tend to use topics more than anything else, with tasks running a close second, but I think that's the nature of our documentation.
 

AW Admin

Administrator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 19, 2008
Messages
18,772
Reaction score
6,285
DITA is used in a lot of online Help systems.

If you can find a structured document in DITA, looking at it closely with the DITA spec or a style guide will help you understand it a lot better.
 
Last edited:

Jason

Ideas bounce around in my head
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 26, 2016
Messages
6,011
Reaction score
1,036
Location
Nashville, TN
All good points - I'm still even debating applying for the job, I am really happy where I am now (teaching)
 

Siri Kirpal

Swan in Process
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 20, 2011
Messages
8,943
Reaction score
3,151
Location
In God I dwell, especially in Eugene OR
Sat Nam! (Literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

If you're happy teaching, then for the sake of our children, I beg you to continue.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal
 

Jason

Ideas bounce around in my head
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 26, 2016
Messages
6,011
Reaction score
1,036
Location
Nashville, TN
Sadly, it's not that kind of teaching - I'm a technical trainer for a telecommunications company. I teach technical stuff to adult learners :)