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Subject:Re: How I Became a Tech. Writer From:Laura Hardy <LadyLHardy -at- AOL -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 11 Aug 1998 21:59:57 EDT
After reading about how other people "fell into the tech. writing profession",
I thought I'd share my tale as well. I have been a tech. writer for what will
soon be a whopping two weeks. This is my third "career". Like many other
tech. writers, I first began working as a journalist, but soon became
disillusioned writing for newspapers. Three years and three moves (among
three different states) later, I decided to go back to school and get my
elementary teaching certificate (being the child of two teachers catches up
with you eventually, I guess).
Two years of teaching the writing process and almost every form of writing to
fifth and sixth graders was great fun, but not something I saw myself doing
for the rest of my life (UNlike my parents who recently retired after 30 years
in the teaching profession). So....after a major change in personal
circumstances this past year, I moved again, and after much inner reflection
and thought (and lots of help and encouragement from a computer project
manager friend of mine), decided to "become" a tech. writer.
The first recruiter I spoke with told me that tech. writing was boring, would
be a waste of my talents, and certainly didn't pay well at all. After such
encouraging comments, I was determined to work even harder. I spent the next
month reading all I could (books, web sites, this listserv) and talking with
people in the field. A week and a half after I began sending resumes to
recruiters, I was hired as a consultant for a large insurance company to write
a variety of documentation for a database program.
So to reiterate others, if I had listened to those who told me I was not
qualified or didn't have the drive to enter the technical writing field, I
would not currently have a job I really enjoy that allows me to use my writing
skills, work with some wonderful people and learn more about areas (computers
and auto insurance to name two) that I otherwise wouldn't have pursued on my
own.
There's a lot to be said for "falling into" a given profession. Sometimes the
roundabout way can be better than taking a direct route.
