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Subject:Re: Why are we excluded??? From:George Mena <George -dot- Mena -at- ESSTECH -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 5 Jun 1998 11:08:34 -0700
Dear Kalpana Thakar,
I've worked at two companies that have included technical writers of
Indian descent as permanent hires, both of them women. As far as I
know, both of them are still employed by those companies. One woman I'm
thinking of got her position as a tech writer with one of the local chip
companies here because her husband was an engineer there. When the pubs
manager started complaning he needed to hire another tech writer, hubby
spoke up. Pubs manage wound up hiring her. She's entered more than a
few STC pubs competitions here in Silicon Valley. Frankly, I think
she's a good writer.
The other woman I'm thinking of is someone I worked with at a computer
company this time last year. She's been with that company two years and
also knows her job, even though there had been some unsubstantiated
rumors going around when I started that contract that she was difficult
to work with. She couldn't have been *that* difficult, though: she was
the department's lead tech writer and was one of the people I
interviewed with to get the contract. :D
It occurs to me that you need to interface and network with Indian
nationals working here in the US and in Silicon Valley in order to try
and be considered for employment of any kind here. True, you may well
encounter difficulties obtaining an H1-B visa (that's what you need to
work here) from the State Department and from INS, but by meeting those
Indian nationals who have their own companies here in Silicon Valley
(Dr. Suhas Patil, co-founder of Cirrus Logic, Fremont, CA, first comes
to mind), you can hopefully enjoy the sort of career success you want to
achieve.
Bottom line: do your homework. Find out who's who out here who's Indian
who's willing to help you and make the case for one of them hiring you
on, either as a contractor or a direct hire. It's just that simple.
Good luck,
George Mena
> -----Original Message-----
> From: kalpana thakar [SMTP:k_thakar -at- YAHOO -dot- COM]
> Sent: Friday, June 05, 1998 6:06 AM
> To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject: Why are we excluded???
>
> Hello everyone,
>
> I am Kalpana and am working as a senior technical communicator for a
> multinational software company in Delhi-India.
>
> My work involves writing end user manuals, rewriting error messages,
> writing on-line help, working on the web, etc.
>
> I am aware that there are lots fo jobs for technical writers all over
> the US. However, I have been told that generally companies in the US
> do not entertain Indians for the post of technical writers. Why is it
> so?
>
> I am writing for the US market as all my company's products are sold
> in the US market. Infact our products are even bundled with Compaq and
> HP devices.
>
> Given such a scenario, why should companies hesitate to recruit
> technical writers working in India?
>
> Regards,
> Kalpana.
>
>
>
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