Re: Getting started in tech writing...

[Bill Swallow <swallow -at- USERTECH -dot- COM>]

Seven years ago I boldly ventured on a quest to become an architect.  I had the artistic background, I had the design perspective, I had the problem-solving mindset.  I thought I had the mathematical knowhow...

The first year at college (dear ol' RPI) went well; 3.2, can't complain.  Third semester came... Structural analysis?  OK... just some calculus right?  Oh my God!  I can't keep up!

I had to sacrifice design time to try and keep up in structures, and thus EVERYTHING suffered (structures class, design class, all other classes, social life...) so like any self-respecting student, I bailed - fast!

So I'm at home over Xmas break wondering what I'm going to do.  I just spent a year and a half building solid friendships and I loved the school; I didn't want to leave the school, but I'm not engineering material.  Then I remembered what a favorite teacher of mine from high school said: "You'd make a better writer, but good luck in architecture".  I should have listened to him in the first place.

I checked our RPI's other schools and hey!  Communications... I'll give it a go.  Well, it was a great choice.  I enjoyed the coursework, and I was good at it!

So then I graduated.  Yay!  I'm out!  Oh no!  Real World!  Like any non-science major at RPI I had to job hunt on my own, and luckily a friend of mine gave me a job in the translation company he worked at. 

So then I was a typesetter.  Joy oh joy.  But the environment was nice to work in, and I had a chance to master a lot of applications (Quark, PageMaker, Word, Photoshop, Corel draw, Illustrator...).  While working there I continued my search for a "real job", and 11 months later I was hired as... no, not a tech writer... an online Help author.

Day one on the job I had to learn RoboHelp, day two I got my first project, and day five it was due.  But I survived.  Actually I soared.  After six months I became the company's authority for Online Help, and from there I branched into Web design and CBT development.  Note:  no tech writing yet.

So now I found a new job where I'll have to work my way up again - this time as a tech writer.  It's been about three years since I have written any tech docs from scratch, so the first few weeks are sure to be painful. But I have faith in myself and my abilities.

So is this what you were looking for?

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Bill Swallow - Team Leader 
Usertech - Norwalk CT
phone: 203.851.4328                  
fax: 203.866.4685
mailto:swallow -at- usertech -dot- com    
http://www.usertech.com
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 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000