Re: How did I get started in tech writing?

[Janice Gelb <Janice -dot- Gelb -at- Sun -dot- COM>]

Hemstreet, Deborah wrote:
> 
> Returning to Israel, I landed a job in the Department of Medicine in
> Haifa. There I began working on medical manuscripts, editing, records,
> etc. Then I transferred to Biomedical Engineering. My job title? English
> Typist. My job description? Receive manuscripts from authors world wide,
> edit them, comment, on them, send to Professor for Scientific editing,
> prepare manuscripts for camera ready publication (including processing
> of graphics at a photo lab and hand pasting them in place). I also
> needed to edit manuscripts for publication, assist students with their
> theses, and write the responses to reviewers based on the edits to the
> manuscripts (I think that was creative writing). 
 >


Wow, what are the odds - I got into Technical Writing
when I moved to Israel also! I have a journalism degree
from the University of Florida with a specialty in editing
and worked as an editor for a publisher of academic books
and journals. When I moved to Israel in late 1983,
companies cared more about my English skills than my
lack of experience in a technical field. I first got
a job for about 6 months as an editor for a company that
was documenting pilotless reconnaissance planes that
were being sold to the US Air Force, and then worked
for a large company called Scitex. (They made a pre-
press graphics machine that sold for $500,000 that
essentially did the same thing as a $35 scanner and
PhotoShop do now.)

When I went back to the US two years later, voila, I
was a technical editor!

-- Janice

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Janice Gelb          | The only connection Sun has with
janice -dot- gelb -at- sun -dot- com  | this message is the return address

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