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Subject:Re: Foot in the door... From:Cheryle W <cjwiese -at- HOTMAIL -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 9 Aug 1999 11:52:51 PDT
Eric said: "As George said, expect that your first job will not pay
particularly well--<snip>"
As someone who has only been in the Technical Writing field for
about three years, I can attest to this. My first "official" tech writing
job didn't pay a whole lot more than I was making in my
previous job, but I was more interested in the opportunity to get
experience under my belt. I dug in and learned all I could, steadily
improving my skills, and a year later was rewarded with a 9% increase(the
top of the range for that company). Six months later I interviewed for and
won a position with a company that offered greater challenge and
significantly more pay than my previous position. HOWEVER, *you* have to
make things happen for yourself.
Some of the things that helped me get started were:
*Signing up for my community college's cooperative education program
in Technical and Professional Writing. Internships do not have to be
full-time endeavors -- many companies understand your need to put food on
the table and will offer part and flex-time opportunities.
*Volunteering to write a user's manual for a proprietary database software
program my company was using. This was the first real piece I had in my
portfolio, along with newsletter articles written for
a software industry publication.
*Subscribing to TECHWR-L. I can't tell you how much knowledge I was
able to absorb just by reading the great contributions on this list.
*Diversifying. Along the way, I discovered that I really loved web design
and creating graphics. This diversification showed prospective employer's
that I wasn't a "one trick pony" and could be called upon to help with tasks
other than writing or editing.
Three years later, I am still very much in love with what I do
and am still very excited to be a part of this rewarding profession.
And no, I am not a Technical Writer because I "couldn't make it as an
Engineer" -- I am a Technical Writer because it is absolutely
what I want to do for the forseeable future.
Good luck to you.
Cheryle Wiese
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