Salary Calculator and Negotiating

If you're like me, you often get frustrated and/or confused about how much you should be getting paid as a technical writer. The Salary Calculator by Robert Half is a great tool that takes a lot of the guess work out of salary requirements. For example, I plugged in the following:

1. Area of Specialization: "Technology & IT"
2. Job Category: "Software & Application Development"
3. Job Title: "Technical Writer"
4. State: "Oregon" (as I happen to live here currently)
5. City: "Portland"

At the writing of this article, the current salary range was $63.5k - $107.7k with the median being $76k. There should be a few things to keep in mind here with this salary range:

• Bonuses and benefits are not included
• You should add another 5-10% to your salary if you possess certain skills and/or certifications

Now that I know how much I'm worth and the fact that I feel very confident with my skills and work experience, I can confidently ask for the aforementioned salary range when applying for a new job.

If you are already employed, I found the article by Robert Half called How to Negotiate Salary After You Get a Job Offer rather useful for giving tips and advice on how to ask for more pay on the job.

Customizing Confluence: Last Modified Date

Introduction

At times of exporting content from Confluence, you may find yourself in a situation where a date stamp is required in the output files. Depending on your process for exporting content, by default, Confluence doesn't export time data (created or last updated) through its native means. If you have the budget, there are a number of plugins that can provide you with a macro to use in your documents but if you find your budget is tight, you can use the following code to create your own user macro to obtain a document's last updated date.

Required skills

You should be comfortable and/or knowledgable with the following:

• HTML
• jQuery
• Creating user macros in Confluence
• Modifying page layouts and space layouts in Confluence

Creating an user macro to display the last modified date

To create an user macro that display the last modified date, you can copy/paste the following code into your instance of Confluence:

Macro name: last-modified
Macro title: Last Modified
Description: Displays last modified date of the document.
Categories: Reporting
Macro Body Processing: No macro body
## @noparams
<span id="lastModifiedDate" style="font-size: 0.7em">Last Modified: $action.dateFormatter.formatDateTime($content.lastModificationDate)</span>


This simple little macro grabs the last modified date from Confluence and will display the value wherever you insert the user macro on your document. The font size is made to be purposely smaller so it won't be to noticeable on your document.

Modify layouts

If your process of exporting content includes the rendered HTML document, then instead of inserting a macro on every document can be replaced by updating the space layout with a little jQuery function to obtain the last updated date and insert it into the body of the wiki content element.

Note: Modifying the Content Layout of a space can be dangerous. If you remove a line from the Page Layout, you could corrupt the space and possibly make Confluence unstable. Use this method with care.

If you are using the Default Theme, insert the following code in Page Layout (Space Tools > Look and Feel > Layout > Create Custom under the Content Layouts in the Page Layout section) after the page setters:

<!-- last updated insertion -->
<script>
$(document).ready(function() {
$('div#main-content').append('<span style="font-size: 0.7em;">Last updated: ' + $('a.last-modified').text() + '</span>');
});
</script>
<!-- end last updated insertion -->

If you are using the Documentation Theme, insert the following code in the footer of the page layout:

<!-- last updated insertion -->
$(document).ready(function() {
$('div.wiki-content').append('<span style="font-size: 0.7em;">Last updated: ' + $('a.last-modified').text() + '</span>')
});
<!-- end last updated insertion -->


This method of inserting a last modified timestamp is, IMHO, the easiest and safest way to add a timestamp to every document in a space.

Managing Writers: Interview with Richard Hamilton (podcast)

I recently had a chance to listen to Tom Johnson's podcast entitled Managing Writers: Interview with Richard Hamilton and I found it to be very insightful. I totally agree that documentation metrics are difficult to nail down and pageviews aren't always the best metric (though a decent one).  I personally haven't found a good metric of productivity for tech writers. (If you have one, I'd love to hear about it.)

Documentation managers (writers or otherwise) are best served by simply staying aware of what their tech writers are doing and how heavily loaded they are on a regular basis. Having regular check-ins and one-on-ones is the best way to tell if a writer is overloaded or not.

Migrating Content From One Confluence Instance to Another

Introduction

From time to time, as a Confluence administrator, you'll be called upon to migrate a space to a new Confluence instance. This guide provides some tried and true steps to generate a list of spaces in Confluence, figure out how active a space is (so you can decide if it should be archived, migrated, or simply removed), how to find a space owner, add a warning message to a space, set a space to "read-only" mode, and delete a space.

Required skills

You should be comfortable and/or knowledgable with the following:

• HTML
• Managing Confluence space themes
• Basic Confluence administration
• Exporting and importing Confluence spaces

Migrating Confluence content

1. Generate a list of all the spaces in your old Confluence (instance). This list will be used as a checklist for tracking all the spaces that have been migrated to the new instance.
   1. To get a list of spaces, go to Spaces > Space Directory. This page will show you a list of all the spaces in your instance.
2. Start reviewing the spaces for level of activity. I believe it is safe to say that if a space hasn't had any visitors in 6+ months, then it should be marked as archived and prioritized for either removal or migration.
   1. To see the level of activity, go into the space and then Space Tools > Activity. In the Activity page, set the Period for months and review the previous six months of activity by clicking on the previous button for the month section.
   2. To archive a space, go to the space in Confluence and then Space Tools > Overview. In the Overview page, click on Edit space details button. From there, change the Status to Archived and click on the Save button.
3. Identify and speak with space owner(s) and get their permission to archive and/or migrate a space. Also ask them if the space should have a higher or lower priority for migration.
   1. To see who the space owner is, open the space and go to Space Tools > Permissions. Under Individual Users, you should typically see someone who has all permissions to the space. Another way to see who created the space is to go to the space's home page. This home page will have information about who created this page (which should be the person who created the space (i.e. the owner of the space) unless of course the Confluence administrator is responsible with the task of creating spaces.
4. Work with space owner(s) on active spaces so you don't interrupt their work and set a date for migration.
5. Add a migration warning to the space that it will be migrated on a designated date.
   1. To add a warning label to a space and the target space is using the Documentation Theme, follow these steps:
      1. Navigate to the space's Themes page (space > Space Admin > Themes).
      2. In the Messages section under Header, add the following code:
         {html}
<div style="background-color: red; color: white; padding: 5px;">This space will be migrated on <span style="color: yellow"><designated_migration_date></span></div>
{html}
      3. This will add a message on top of every page in the space and the unstylish colors will definitely grab the attention of everyone viewing the page.
      4. Note: it's a good idea to give everyone at least a two weeks notice about the migration.
6. For unvisited spaces or spaces about to be migrated, put the space into "read-only" mode.
   1. To make a space "read-only", go to Space Tools > Permissions.
   2. In the Permissions page, you should see a list of space admins and groups. It would be best to leave the permission scheme alone for the space admins but if you have a group where all users fall under, change it so it is only set to All View to checked and everything else is unchecked.
7. Export spaces on designated dates. Start with higher priority spaces and work your way down to the low priority spaces. See Export and Import a Confluence Space for instructions on how to export a space.
8. Import the exported space into the new instance. See Export and Import a Confluence Space for details on how to import a space.
9. Go into the newly imported space and confirm that everything is in proper order (content and attachments are fine, macros are working as expected, permissions are good, and so on). Note: this step may take a bit of time. I recommend that you get help from the original space owner(s) to confirm that the migration went well.
10. Change migration notice to migrated and marked for removal. Update warning of the exported space in the old instance that it has been migrated (with a link to the new space) and add a removal date.
    1. To add a removal warning, repeat the sub-steps listed in step 5.
       1. Navigate to the space's Themes page (space > Space Admin > Themes).
       2. In the Messages section under Header, add the following code:
          {html}
<div style="background-color: red; color: white; padding: 5px;">This space has been migrated to <a style="color: white; text-decoration: underline;" href="url_of_new_confluence_instance/display/<spacekey>">url_of_new_confluence_instance/display/<spacekey></a> and will be removed from this wiki on <designated_removal_date></div>
{html}
          
       3. This will add a message on top of every page in the space and the unstylish colors will definitely grab the attention of everyone viewing the page.
       4. Note: it's a good idea to give everyone at least a two weeks notice about the removal.
11. On the designated removal date, delete the space old space in the old instance of Confluence. While this is a very dangerous step, keep in mind that you have the exported zip file and the newly created space in the new instance. If anything goes wrong, you can always re-import the space back into the original Confluence instance.
• To delete a space, go to Space Tools > Overview. Click the Delete Space button. You may be prompted to enter your credentials so be ready to enter that information. Click the Ok button to start the deletion process. Depending on how big the space is, this could take a few seconds or several minutes. Check with the Time Remaining counter (I find it's mostly accurate 90% of the time but that will vary from server to server based on your server's configuration).

Tip: You may want to include a message at the top of the newly imported space in the new instance where one can find the old space in the old instance. Just use the sub-steps mentioned in either step 5 or 10 and add the necessary info to point back to the old space.

Should it be Capitalized

Every once in a while I come across fun little tidbits of knowledge. Today, I found this knowledge-nugget which guides one in how to capitalization in a title or headline.

Creating Authentic Human Connections Within A Remote Team

I recently read Creating Authentic Human Connections Within A Remote Team posted by Smashing Magazine and I really connected with this article. I have been working as a remote tech writer for three years now and I can say that this experience and what Randy Tolentino wrote is very true. I especially that "Reading emotions across the distance" section was point on. However, I don't agree that using emojis is necessarily a good solution. I think the use of emojis greatly depends on the personality of the person on the other side of the screen. Personally, if I'm having a back and forth with someone on an IM, I just ask if I can video conference with them for 5-10 minutes. That face to face time is much better at connecting to that other person and reinforce that we are humans and not just resources (as Randy mentions in this article).

Modifying an Exported Space From Confluence

Introduction

During times of Confluence migrations (from one instance to another), you may find yourself in a situation where the new Confluence instance has a space that has the same spacekey as an old space that you are attempting to import. This month's post will show you how to get around that issue.

Required skills

This document assumes you know how to export a Confluence space already and are comfortable with editing XML files.

Exporting and editing

To start, you will need to expand the exported zip file (that comes from exporting a space). In this expanded directory, you will need to edit the exportDescriptor.properties file. In this file, modify the spaceKey property to the desired spacekey and save your change.

In entities.xml, search and replace the following items listed in this table (replacing NEWKEY with an unused and new spacekey you wish to use in the new Confluence instance):

Search for	Replace with
[CDATA[OLDKEY]	[CDATA[NEWKEY]
OLDKEY	NEWKEY
spaceKey=OLDKEY	spaceKey=NEWKEY
[OLDKEY:	[NEWKEY:
key=OLDKEY]	key=NEWKEY]
<spaceKey>OLDKEY</spaceKey>	<spaceKey>NEWKEY</spaceKey>
ri:space-key="OLDKEY"	ri:space-key="NEWKEY"
ri:space-key=OLDKEY	ri:space-key=NEWKEY
<ac:parameter ac:name="spaces">OLDKEY</ac:parameter>	<ac:parameter ac:name="spaces">NEWKEY</ac:parameter>
<ac:parameter ac:name="spaceKey">OLDKEY</ac:parameter>	<ac:parameter ac:name="spaceKey">NEWKEY</ac:parameter>
<property name="lowerDestinationSpaceKey"><![CDATA[NEWKEY]]></property>	<property name="lowerDestinationSpaceKey"><![CDATA[newkey]]></property>
<property name="lowerKey">![CDATA[NEWKEY]]></property>	<property name="lowerKey"><![CDATA[newkey]]></property>
spaceKey=OLDKEY	spaceKey=NEWKEY
spacekey=oldkey	spacekey=newkey

With those two files updated, re-zip all content back together, rename it to the original zip file (you may need to remove the old zip file or just rename it just in case), and upload it to your new Confluence instance as you would normally to import a space.

Additional details can be found here: https://confluence.atlassian.com/confkb/how-to-copy-or-rename-a-space-in-confluence-169578.html