Starting Out

["Victoria Oliver" <vholiver1 -at- hotmail -dot- com>]

Hi,

I've been doing technical documentation (writing, illustrating, editing) for 
a long time (20+ years), but - after being laid off for the umpteenth too 
many times over the past few years - I have decided to try contracting 
instead of going from company to company as a very un-permanent employee.  
Someone else here mentioned the fragility of our positions when the dollars 
get tight.  I have been working as the sole tech writer in fairly small 
companies, and it has left me vulnerable when they need to tighten their 
belt.  I suppose in a few years when they are busy again, and the customer 
is complaining about the poor state of their documentation, they'll bring 
someone like me on board and go through the same process all over again.

My question has to do with an opportunity that has been presented to me.  
There is a large aerospace corporation in the area where I am located, and I 
actually worked for them for 15 years.  Many of the smaller companies around 
here feed off of this corporation as well, so experience with the large 
corporation can be a real important factor in getting jobs - both with the 
large corporation itself, or the other smaller companies.

I was contacted by an agency that has been supplying contractors to this 
corporation since the early 1950's, and they are one of the large 
corporation's main sources.  I only recently signed up with this agency and 
have not yet done any work for them.  They called me because the large 
corporation has a position open, but it is not exactly ideal for me.  It is 
further than I would prefer to travel, it pays less than what I would like 
to earn, and the work is well below my skill level.
However, it is only for 2-3 months, it does pay considerably more than my 
unemployment benefits, it is an assignment working for the large corporation 
(giving me more current experience with them), it is an assignment working 
for the agency that supplies to them frequently, and it is simple enough 
that I should be able to do a good job on the assignment, with few problems 
or questions.

So I can see both pluses and minuses in the situation.  I'm inclined to want 
to accept the position, knowing it is only short-term, in the hope that it 
will enable me to show some of my skills off, get my name known, get a foot 
in the door, etc.  That seems to me like it would be a Good Thing.

However, would it really be to my benefit to do that?  Would I get labeled 
at the junior level, and only come to mind when less challenging work is 
available?  It kind of reminds me of years ago when I started in a group as 
a secretary, and after a couple of years, and with going back to school and 
so forth, I was promoted to Technical Writer.  However, some of the people 
where I worked never forgot that I started as a secretary, and never really 
took me seriously as a technical writer.  I didn't get respect as a 
technical writer until I left that company and took another job that started 
me out as a technical writer.

Right about now I could certainly use the money, but I'm concerned about the 
long-term ramifications about taking this particular assignment.

Has anyone else run into something similar?  I'd really appreciate your 
feedback.

Thanks,

Vicki

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