Re: Scope of TW

[Shelley Strong <sstrong -at- TECHREPS -dot- COM>]

When someone started the thread about "Anyone out there NOT doing computer
docs?", I suddenly felt like a character from the 70s sitcom _Welcome Back,
Kotter._  There was one student who couldn't simply raise his hand like the
others; his excitement was too much for him to contain.

"OOOO!! OOH!  Me, Me!  I know!  OOO!  OOOOOO!"

That means that I don't do computer docs.  I do (gasp) government work.  I
started out working for an EPA contractor doing proofreading and editing on
R&D reports, monthly reports, journal articles, and assorted other things
that came along, all having a very environmental focus (soil, air, and water
contamination, analysis, and remediation).  I cut my teeth in the editing
sense on the _ACS Style Guide_ and the _GPO Style Manual_  and had a
terrific supervisor and mentor (bless you, Marianne Faber).  I hold a B.S.
degree in agriculture (Try explaining to an interviewer how THAT relates to
editing).  I had a superb grammar teacher in 7th and 8th grade -- Lorraine
Reynolds who retired this year (Bless her, too.  No one else taught me more
about English grammar than she did).

I currently work for a contractor to Sandia National Laboratories doing much
of the same types of docs, but the subject matter may be anything that SNL
does.  I have yet to even touch online help software except to gaze with
mild trepidation at the boxed things on the shelves of software stores.

I deal with deadlines and engineers with approximately equal success.  Most
are  reasonable; others are impossible.  Because the work I do varies so
widely from one project to another, it is tough to have *real* documentation
procedures, but I suspect that after I finish JoAnn Hackos's book, I'll add
her name to my "bless you" list.

(rhetorical question) Does all of this mean I'm not a *real* tech editor?

I look forward to reading others' responses to this topic.

Regards,

Shelley R. Strong, Technical Editor   Voice: (505) 266-5678 ext. 264
Tech Reps, Inc.              Fax: (505) 260-1163
Albuquerque, NM 87110                  Email:  sstrong -at- techreps -dot- com

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