Re: Getting started in tech writing...

["Hutchings, Christa" <cwhutchings -at- HOMEWIRELESS -dot- COM>]

Well, after I left the log cabin I was raised in (next to Reuven and
Tom), I moved to the big city and went to work in a large call center at
night while I went to school during the day (I was a misguided biology
major at the time). My employer needed someone to write procedures for
the operations group, I volunteered (it got me off the phones for a few
hours each day), and we soon found that I had a knack for it. (On the
other hand, I hated creative and expository writing - still do, despite
the fact that I eventually changed my major from Biology to English, and
maintained my 4.0 average to boot!) At any rate, the company soon
realized that it needed a full-time tech writer, so a TW was born! That
was nearly 15 years ago, and except for a stint in '90/91 when I was
laid off due to a corporate downsizing, I've been gainfully employed as
a TW ever since.

I was the only TW at my first two employers, so I was basically
self-taught for over 7 years. I attended seminars when I could, read
whatever I could find about the art and science of technical
communication, and hung out with the engineers and programmers as much
as possible to learn about the products they were designing. I then
moved to a company with a very small docs group (2 full-time writers and
1 TW manager, with 1 contract writer added later), and from there to
another company with a larger TW group (9 writers, 2 illustrators, 3
formatters), and I've just recently come back to my roots as a lone/lead
writer. Since I've been the lone/lead writer for most of my career, I
guess you could say I pretty much jerked myself up by my bootstraps.
Although it's been rough at times, it did have the advantage of teaching
me to think strategically, a skill that is coming in very handy at my
present employer, where I am building the documentation effort from
scratch.

BTW, I'm probably one of the very few in this profession who doesn't
have a Bachelor's degree (of any kind). I've been self-supporting since
I left home at 18 and I've never had the opportunity to attend college
full-time. I did obtain an AA in English, and completed several
upper-level English & Communications courses, but elected to not pursue
a BA in English because: 1) I was getting very burned out trying to meet
deadlines at work *and* deadlines at school (which somehow always seemed
to fall at the same time - how *does* that happen?); and 2) I was
meeting so much resistance in the corporate world to the idea. (Seems
many employers didn't/don't have much respect for anyone with other than
a CS, engineering, or business degree. At several companies I worked
for, they wouldn't even pay for my English courses! I, on the other
hand, have a great respect for English majors - they not only know how
to write, but also know how to think!)

At any rate, there were no undergraduate TW programs in my area until
fairly recently, and even though I briefly considered doing the CS
thing, the thought of starting over again didn't exactly thrill me. The
only degree I'm interested in now is a TW degree, but the Bachelor's
program at a local university will only accept a few of my English and
Biology credits, and it'd take about 3 years of driving across town
after work (fighting that wonderful Atlanta traffic!) to complete the
degree. I stay pretty busy as it is with job, family, a show horse, and
volunteer work for my equestrian organization, so I'm not sure when I'll
be able to fit school in again. (At the moment, I have it tentatively
penciled in for my 70's, but I hope to be retired by then and playing
shuffleboard in Florida, so what's the point?)

Although I'm not sure I could recommend this route to everyone, it's
worked out pretty well for me. I've had a few great non-TW bosses along
the way who have been very supportive while also staying out of my way,
and another wonderful TW boss (for 18 months) who helped me gain the
self-confidence to tackle my present job. I've also been lucky with
every employer but one to be allowed to develop new skills and learn new
tools, so I have stayed pretty current with the changes going on in our
profession. I can write and edit, develop a documentation strategy and
doc plans, design docs, do page layout, do simple graphics work, design
and maintain web sites, develop WinHelp, develop for and publish in
Acrobat, interview and hire TWs, mentor junior writers, and I'm about to
tackle my first HTML Help project - not a bad skill set for an
"undereducated" TW! ;~D

I'll end by saying that I have found this list to be an invaluable tool
and I want to thank everyone for taking the time to share not only their
tips & tricks, but also their insights, war stories, etc. I've even
found the flame wars somewhat amusing at times!

Chris Welch-Hutchings
Senior Technical Writer
Home Wireless Networks, Inc.
mailto:cwhutchings -at- homewireless -dot- com


"you get what you settle for"


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