RE: Paths to Seniority - from technical support to technical writing?

["Melissa Nelson" <melmis36 -at- hotmail -dot- com>]

The first company I worked for had a technical support department, that was 
one step up from the help desk. The documentation team was part of QA and 
Documentation. When our manager quit, the lady who replaced her came from 
technical support. When I left, they took a girl out of tech support and 
made her the new technical writer. They also took another girl out of tech 
support to replace a developer.

So to make a long story short...at least in that company, technical support 
led to other things! Good luck!!

Melissa


>From: "Joanne Elizabeth Murphy" <joanne -dot- e -dot- m -at- gmail -dot- com>
>To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>Subject: Paths to Seniority - from technical support to technical writing?
>Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2007 09:57:44 +0100
>
>Excuse me, I may babble a little.
>
>A recent graduate of computing, I have now firmly established that I wish 
>to
>pursue a career in Technical Writing. I somehow managed to claw some
>experience in the field out of my studies, and I have 12 months of
>experience being paid to produce various items of software documentation 
>for
>a local textiles manufacturer.  However, the company I'm currently working
>for has no specific need for a Technical Writer and, to be honest, seem a
>little confused at times by my role.  So-much-so, in fact, that I find
>myself manning the helpdesk and administering to the IT departments
>budget...acquiring new hardware and solving trivial computer problems.
>Though I quite enjoy having something else on the side to occupy my mind
>when the research and writing gets a little out of hand (oh, for an
>established set of procedures!)
>
>Anyway, now that I've graduated, and my current contract is due to expire, 
>I
>need a new job. Obviously. It would be fine if there were any Technical
>Writing jobs in the local area other than Investment Writer positions (I
>swear there must have been a massacre; one day, no jobs, the next, thirty
>jobs. A good time to be an Investment Writer.); however, I'm faced with a
>choice of either:
>
>(a) convince my partner that we should sell the house we just bought and
>move South (like birds!) for the winter
>(b) shelf the TW plan for now and do something else
>
>Right, so this is the question I am really asking you (congratulations if
>you made it this far, your resilience is truly astounding): has anyone ever
>made it to the level of Senior Technical Writer from a role working in
>Technical Support? Or is it better to be in the software development arena?
>
>See, I have been offered the position of Technical Support Engineer with 
>the
>company I currently work for; they require someone who'll look after the
>infrastructure and troubleshoot hardware issues for users. My manager is
>honeying it up with stories of his past and the various Technical Writers 
>he
>has known who started from such a position and, though I'm inclined to
>assume he has no reason to make up stories, I also have to assume he
>desperately needs a TSE and will do anything to secure such a
>person.  However, on the other hand, I have the senior software developer
>harping in my other ear, bestowing upon me the wisdom of his years, 
>assuring
>me that technical support is a "dead end" and a waste of a good degree.
>
>So, who's lying?
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printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007 
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
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True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
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